THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


\^/ 1  v ,»<}  fit^y 

.tht  Tropic. 


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T.  K 


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DiVBURGH 

ctoler 

Island 


JO  URNAL 


O  F    A 


LADY  OF  QUALITY;  I 


Being  the  Narrative  of  a 
Journey  from 

SCOTLAND 

to  the  /^.tf  Indies^  ZN^orth  Qarolina 

VJ 

and  'Portugal,  in  the  years 
1774  to  1776. 


EVANGELINE  WALKER  ANDREWS, 

in  Collaboration  with 

CHARLES  MCL.EAN  ANDREWS,  •$• 

Farnam  Professor  of  American  History  in  Yale  University.     IT 

<£ 
* 

NEW  HAVEN  :  Yale  University  Press,  1923.    J 

LONDON  :  Humphrey  Milford,  Oxford  University  Press.       ^ 


Copyright,  1921,  by  Yale  University  Press. 
Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

Published,  December,  1921. 
Second  printing,  July,  1922. 
Third  printing,  March,  1923. 


F 

257 
S3I3J 


To 

JAMES  SPRUNT, 
Chronicler  of  the  Cape  Fear. 


1 099082 


CONTENTS 


Introduction,  l 

Chapter  I.  The  Voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  19 

Chapter  II.  Antigua  and  St.  Christopher,  78 

Chapter  III.  Residence  in  North  Carolina,  144 

Chapter  IV.  Sojourn  in  Lisbon,  216 

Appendices : 

I.  The  Highland  Emigration,  257 

II.  The  Martin  Family,  259 

III.  "Olivees"  and  the  Hamiltons,  273 

IV.  Brunswick,  277 

V.  Description  of  North  Carolina,  279 

VI.  Wilmington,  282 

VII.  James  Innes  and  Francis  Corbin,  285 

VIII.  James  Murray  and  John  Rutherfurd,  289 

IX.  The  Rutherfurd  Children,  299 

X.  The  Children's  Inheritance,  307 

XI.  A  Group  of  Provincial  Leaders,  313 

XII.  A  Few  North  Carolina  Loyalists,  319 

XIII.  Archibald  Neilson,  328 

XIV.  Captain  John  Abraham  Collet,  330 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


End  papers 
opposite  page  1 1 

78 


Map  of  the  Voyage, 

Plan  of  Lauriston  and  New  Town, 

The  Island  of  Antigua, 

The  Parishes  at  Basseterre,  120 

The  Lower  Cape  Fear,  142 

Entries  of  the  Jamaica  Packet  and  the  Rebecca^  144 

The  Town  of  Wilmington,  156 

Plan  of  the  City  of  Lisbon,  242 

Note.  The  map  of  the  Parishes  of  Basseterre,  the  map  of 
the  Lower  Cape  Fear,  the  plan  of  the  Town  of  Wilmington, 
and  the  Entries  of  the  Jamaica  Packet  and  the  Rebecca  are 
heliotypes  from  photographs  of  the  original  documents. 
The  remaining  maps  and  plans  are  from  drawings  by 
W.  A.  Dwiggins. 


INTRODUCTION 


T, 


HE'finding  of  an  interesting  manuscript  is  much  like  the 
sighting  of  an  unexpected  island  by  a  mariner  sailing  in 
strange  seas,  for  the  exploration  of  either,  whatever  may  be 
the  ultimate  value  of  the  discovery,  affords  all  the  excite- 
ment that  accompanies  an  adventure  into  the  unknown.  Nor 
has  this  "Journal  of  a  Lady  of  Quality,"  stumbled  upon 
accidentally  in  a  search  for  other  material,  failed  in  any  par- 
ticular to  fulfill  the  expectations  of  its  discoverers  or  the 
promise  of  its  charming  title  and  opening  pages;  and  one 
can  only  marvel  that  such  a  treasure  should  have  lain  so  long 
unproclaimed. 

That  an  incredulous  reader  may  not  have  to  speculate 
regarding  the  genuineness  of  the  Journal,  the  editors  hasten 
to  say  that  it  is  no  twentieth  century  fabrication,  but  that  the 
manuscript  from  which  the  present  text  is  printed  is  known 
as  Egerton,  2423,  and  is  even  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
It  is  a  quarto  volume  labelled  "Travels  in  the  West  Indies 
and  South  Carolina,  1774,  '75";  and  in  the  Museum  Cata- 
logue it  is  entered  as  a  "Journal  by  a  Lady,  of  a  Voyage  from 
Scotland  to  the  West  Indies  and  South  Carolina,  with  an 
account  of  personal  experiences  during  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  a  visit  to  Lisbon  on  her  return  25  October 
1774 — December  1775."  Quite  a  long  description  that,  but 
withal  an  inaccurate  one;  and  surely  he  was  a  careless  re- 
tainer of  the  British  Museum  who  did  the  labelling,  for  even 
a  cursory  reading  of  the  beautiful  manuscript  shows  that 


2         THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

"North  Carolina"  should  be  substituted  for  "South  Caro- 
lina," and  that  the  narrative  itself  deals,  at  most,  with  only 
the  preliminary  events  of  the  American  War  for  Independ- 
ence and  continues  nearly  to  the  beginning  of  February, 
1776. 

As  a  narrative,  the  Journal  falls  naturally  into  four  parts, 
dealing  respectively  with  the  voyage  from  Scotland  to  the 
West  Indies;  with  life  and  experiences  in  the  West  Indies  at 
Antigua  and  St.  Kitts,  and  the  voyage  from  St.  Kitts  to  the 
Cape  Fear  River;  with  life  on  the  Cape  Fear  just  before  the 
American  War  of  Independence ;  and,  finally,  with  the  vari- 
ous adventures  and  experiences  of  Miss  Schaw  and  her  com- 
panions in  Portugal  on  her  way  back  to  Scotland.  Nowhere 
in  our  manuscript  does  the  name  of  the  author  occur,  and, 
for  the  most  part,  the  names  of  persons  referred  to  are  in 
blank;  so  that  only  after  much  following  of  clues  and  search- 
ing in  the  records  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  the  West 
Indies,  and  America  have  the  editors  been  able  to  trace  the 
careers  of  those  who  play  the  leading  parts  in  the  story. 
With  the  blanks  filled  out  as  far  as  possible,  with  but  few 
corrections  in  spelling  and  capitalization,  and  with  here  and 
there  a  change  in  the  diverting,  but  somewhat  erratic,  punc- 
tuation, the  Journal,  in  the  form  now  presented,  is  the  same 
as  that  of  the  British  Museum  manuscript. 

But  of  more  importance  than  these  slight  changes  in  form 
is  the  fact  that  two  other  copies  of  the  Journal  are  known  to 
exist,  one  of  which,  the  Vetch  manuscript,  owned  by  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Schaws  and  recently  bequeathed  to  a  de- 
scendant of  the  Rutherfurds, — the  two  families  that  play  the 
chief  roles  in  the  Journal, — we  have  not  been  allowed  to 
examine,  even  for  purposes  of  textual  comparison.  The  other, 
now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Vere  Langford  Oliver,  the  dis- 
tinguished author  of  a  history  of  Antigua,  was  purchased  by 
him  a  few  years  ago  in  the  belief  that  it  was  unique;  and 
although  this  is  not  the  case,  it  is  of  particular  value  in  that 


INTRODUCTION 


it  gives  the  name  of  the  author  and  is  dedicated  to  Alexander 
Schaw,  Esqr,  "the  Brother,  Freind,  and  fellow  traveler  of  the 
Author,  his  truly  affect.  Jen.  Schaw,  St.  Andrews  Square, 
March  10,  1778."  Mr.  Oliver,  who  has  compared  his  copy 
with  that  in  the  British  Museum,  says  that  although  there  are 
differences  in  binding  and  pagination,  the  two  manuscripts 
are  in  the  same  handwriting  and  differ  but  slightly  in 
phraseology.  Our  belief  is  that  both  are  copies  of  the  same 
manuscript,  which,  in  turn,  may  have  been  the  original ;  for 
these  letters,  written  to  a  dear  friend,  probably  a  woman  back 
in  Scotland,  by  this  same  "Jen.  Schaw"  while  on  her  eventful 
journey  to  the  West  Indies  and  North  Carolina,  were  prob- 
ably copied  many  times  for  circulation  among  relatives  and 
friends.  Thus,  from  1904,  when  the  editors  of  the  present 
volume  came  upon  the  British  Museum  manuscript,  these 
other  manuscripts  have  been  appearing,  first  Colonel  Vetch's 
and  later  Mr.  Oliver's,  to  claim  the  title  for  the  only  and 
original;  and  almost  comically,  have  been  masquerading, 
like  three  Dromios,  somewhat  to  the  confusion  and  dismay, 
but  also  to  the  amusement,  of  some  of  the  discoverers  of  the 
prize. 

If  further  proof  were  needed,  both  of  the  authenticity  of 
the  Journal  and  also  of  the  accuracy  and  truthfulness  of  the 
author  in  describing  places,  events,  and  individuals,  that  is 
supplied  by  the  notes  and  appendices  of  this  volume,  in 
which  Professor  Andrews  has  checked  up  or  amplified  each 
point  of  personal  and  historical  interest.  Scholarly  research 
has  been  applied  to  the  work  of  this  delightful  "Lady  of 
Quality,"  but  she  holds  her  ground  firmly  and  ably,  as  with 
ease  and  fluency  she  discusses  manners  and  customs,  climate 
and  scenery,  sugar-culture  and  farming,  friends, — their 
houses,  amusements,  recreations,  and  sorrows, — and,  fortu- 
nately for  posterity,  happenings  and  human  beings  as  she 
saw  both  in  the  West  Indies  and  North  Carolina  just  before 
the  American  War  for  Independence.  Rarely  is  she  caught 


4        THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

napping,  and  with  her  enthusiasm  and  humour,  her  ability 
to  make  us  see  and  feel  with  her,  she  carries  us  to  a  trium- 
phant end.  Reluctantly  we  close  the  volume,  for  we  would 
know  all  her  story;  but  she  leaves  us  abruptly  in  Portugal, 
with  never  a  hint  as  to  how  she  got  back  to  Scotland  or  how 
and  where  she  spent  the  later  years  of  her  life :  and  we  ask 
ourselves,  Who  was  this  "affect.  Jen.  Schaw,"  where  did  she 
come  from  and  whither  did  she  go,  this  vivacious,  adven- 
turous, aristocratic  lady,  this  devoted  sister,  who  willingly 
faced  great  discomfort  and  hardships  in  order  to  accompany 
one  dear  brother  to  his  new  home  in  the  West  Indies  and  to 
visit  another  in  the  far  distant  British  colony  of  North  Caro- 
lina? What  manner  of  woman  is  this  who  suddenly  appears 
on  our  field  of  vision,  leaves  an  unforgettable  account  of 
herself  and  her  relatives  and  friends,  and  vanishes  as  sud- 
denly as  she  came1?  What  is  her  achievement,  and  what  is 
the  significance  for  us  of  this  Journal  of  hers?  It  is  in  the 
search  for  answers  to  these  questions  that  one  begins  a  real 
voyage  of  adventure. 

The  Journal  relates  that  there  sailed  from  the  Firth  of 
Forth  on  October  25,  1774,  a  small  craft,  the  Jamaica 
Packet^  bound  for  the  West  Indies  and  North  Carolina,  the 
chief  passengers  of  which  were  a  young  Scotsman  and  his 
sister,  the  author  of  the  Journal,  who  from  other  sources  we 
discover  were  Alexander  and  Janet  Schaw  of  Edinburgh. 
Travelling  with  them  were  Fanny,  an  attractive  girl  of 
eighteen  or  nineteen,  John,  Jr.,  or  Jack,  a  lad  of  eleven,  and 
William  Gordon,  the  nine-year-old  "Billie"  of  the  Journal, 
connections  of  the  Schaws,  and  children  of  John  Rutherfurd, 
a  prominent  resident  of  the  colony  of  North  Carolina.  Be- 
sides these  five,  there  were  also  Mrs.  Mary  Miller,  Miss 
Schaw's  maid,  whom  she  called  her  Abigail,  and  who  is  a 
comic  figure  in  the  story;  and  the  faithful,  efficient  Robert, 
Mr.  Schaw's  grave  East  Indian  servant,  who  almost  magi- 
cally made  up  for  deficiencies  in  the  menu  when  live  stock 


INTRODUCTION 


and  food  had  been  swept  overboard  and  the  passengers  were 
facing  possible  starvation.  And  that  the  Journal  might  lack 
no  element  of  romance,  there  were  the  fine  English  sailors, 
the  honest  mate,  the  subservient  supercargo,  hand  in  glove 
with  the  unscrupulous  captain;  the  pitiful  emigrants  smug- 
gled aboard  and  treated  like  slaves;  frightful  storms  and 
rumours  of  pirates ;  and  hovering  in  the  background,  always 
the  sinister  figure  of  Parker,  the  rascally  owner  of  the  vessel, 
whose  evil  deeds  constantly  came  to  light  during  the  perilous 
voyage  on  which  the  Schaws  were  embarked.  Nowhere,  we 
think,  does  our  author  display  so  well  her  own  sterling  quali- 
ties of  character  and  charming  personality,  as  in  this,  the 
opening  chapter  of  the  Journal.  From  the  start  she  captures 
our  interest  for  herself  and  for  her  companions  of  what  she 
picturesquely  calls  her  "little  wooden  kingdom,"  and  with  a 
real  sense  of  climax,  sustains  it  at  high  pitch,  until  she  and 
they,  after  a  stormy  passage  of  seven  weeks,  from  which  they 
but  barely  escape  with  their  lives,  sail  safely  into  the  beauti- 
ful harbour  of  St.  John's  at  Antigua.  For  months,  off  and  on, 
regardless  of  storms,  severe  cold,  intense  heat,  or  the  distrac- 
tions of  travel,  Miss  Schaw  wrote  her  journal-letters, 
describing,  as  the  case  might  be,  the  tropical  and  almost 
Oriental  luxury  of  the  West  Indies,  the  exciting  and  inter- 
esting events  of  our  pre-revolutionary  history,  or  the  details 
of  her  amusing  experiences  in  Setubal  and  Lisbon,  never  for- 
getting her  promise  to  the  fortunate  and  adored  friend  in 
Scotland  who  was  her  inspiration.  Dating  her  first  letter  "9 
o'clock  evening,  October  25,  1774,"  Miss  Schaw  says:  "I 
propose  writing  you  every  day,  but  you  must  not  expect  a 
regular  journal.  I  will  not  fail  to  write  whatever  can  amuse 
myself;  and  whether  you  find  it  entertaining  or  not,  I  know 
you  will  not  refuse  it  a  reading.  As  every  subject  will  be 
guided  by  my  own  immediate  feelings,  my  opinions  and 
descriptions  will  depend  on  the  health  and  humour  of  the 
moment  in  which  I  write;  from  which  cause  my  sentiments 


6         THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

will  often  appear  to  differ  on  the  same  subject."  It  is  not 
surprising  that  the  journal  of  such  a  delightfully  whimsical 
and  candid  author  as  this  letter  shows  Miss  Schaw  to  be, 
should  be  both  accurate  and  refreshing,  and  that  its  author 
should  win  for  herself  at  the  outset  the  affectionate  interest 
of  her  readers.  Fortunately  for  us  she  was  blessedly  unaware, 
as  she  jotted  down  her  opinions  and  descriptions  according 
to  the  "humour  of  the  moment"  that  she  was  writing  for  pos- 
terity a  document  of  rare  interest  and  importance,  one  which, 
as  far  as  we  know,  and  especially  as  it  bears  on  the  Scottish 
phase  of  American  colonial  history,  is  unique.  Little  did  she 
suspect  that  she  was  to  be  caught  in  the  net  of  the  future 
historian  and  labelled  as  a  valuable  specimen  of  those  Scots 
who  figured  in  the  colonizing  movements  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries. 

In  the  lowlands  of  Scotland,  amid  the  hills  and  valleys 
and  along  the  rivers  and  firths  from  the  Grampians  to  the 
Tweed  and  the  Clyde,  were  scores  of  Scottish  families  of 
old-time  stock  whose  attention  was  attracted  early  to  the 
islands  and  mainland  of  the  New  World.  Even  before  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  young  Scotsmen  had  begun 
to  wander  across  the  seas,  either  to  fill  civil  offices  in  the 
colonies,  to  find  cheap  land  upon  which  to  set  up  farms  and 
plantations,  or  to  serve  in  regiments,  stationed  for  longer  or 
shorter  periods  in  Boston,  New  York,  or  some  one  of  the 
island  colonies.  As  lands  in  the  West  Indies  became  more 
difficult  to  obtain,  because  of  the  growth  of  the  sugar  indus- 
try, many  of  the  settlers  turned  to  the  mainland  of  America, 
to  North  Carolina  in  particular,  and  after  the  opening  of  the 
Cape  Fear  section,  colonized  there  in  great  numbers — 
Hamiltons,  Martins,  Mackinnens,  Hallidays,  Murrays, 
Duncans,  Rutherfurds,  Pringles,  and  Schaws — all  of  whom 
figure  in  this  Journal.  Before  the  end  of  the  colonial  period 
both  Lowland  and  Highland  Scots  were  to  be  found  in 
North  Carolina,  Georgia,  New  York,  and  Nova  Scotia,  with 


INTRODUCTION 


a  few  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  as  well ;  and  some  of  them, 
men  of  the  old  covenanting  blood  and  spirit,  alive  to  the 
opportunities  offered  by  commerce  or  the  development  of 
large  plantations,  became  important  officials  or  planters  and 
tradesmen  of  prominence  and  influence.  Wherever  these 
Scotsmen  found  themselves,  whether  in  the  West  Indies  or 
on  the  American  Continent,  in  Oporto  or  in  Lisbon — Portu- 
guese cities  where  treaty  relations  with  Great  Britain  made 
it  possible  for  English  and  Scottish  merchants  to  monopolize 
commerce — there  they  established  homes  and  places  of  busi- 
ness, and  retaining  their  devotion  to  their  mother-country, 
their  king,  and  their  traditions,  created  centres  of  Scottish 
life  that  became  in  reality  little  Scotlands.  Mutual  affection 
and  devotion  characterized  these  Scottish  families,  wherever 
their  members  settled.  Eager  for  news  from  home,  those  in 
the  colonies  extended  generous  hospitality  to  the  wandering 
members  of  their  own  family,  or  the  families  of  their  friends ; 
those  that  remained  in  Scotland  never  lost  interest  in  their 
kin  across  the  sea,  aided  them  with  money,  and  welcomed 
them  back  whenever  they  could  come.  Thus  had  the  stage 
been  set  for  Alexander  and  Janet  Schaw,  who,  all  uncon- 
scious of  so  much  preparation  for  their  advent  into  history, 
wandered  happily  from  one  to  another  of  the  West  Indian 
islands,  to  various  plantations  and  centres  of  the  colony  of 
North  Carolina,  and  finally,  Miss  Schaw  herself,  to  Lisbon, 
meeting  old  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  enjoying  the 
lavish  hospitality  that  clannish  Scotsmen  naturally  offered 
to  such  charming  and  distinguished  guests. 

It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  that  Miss  Schaw  made 
her  visit  to  the  West  Indies  and  the  Cape  Fear  just  when  she 
did,  for  had  she  come  a  few  years  later,  she  would  have 
found  Antigua  and  St.  Kitts,  not  at  the  height  of  their  pros- 
perity as  they  were  in  1774,  with  the  Hamiltons,  Martins, 
and  Paynes  dispensing  almost  royal  hospitality,  but  suffer- 
ing from  the  somewhat  devastating  effects  of  the  American 


8         THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Revolution :  and  had  she  come  earlier,  we  should  have  lacked 
a  chronicler  of  a  period  of  our  own  revolutionary  history  for 
which  there  exists  no  finer  contemporary  document  than  her 
Journal.  Not  only  does  she  describe  graphically  and  inter- 
estingly the  natural  scenery  and  social  life  of  the  places  she 
visited — for  she  is  a  gifted  letter  writer,  as  other  extant  let- 
ters of  hers  prove — but  she  gives  us  pictures  of  political  life 
in  North  Carolina  during  the  stormy  pre-revolutionary  days 
which  are  typical,  not  only  of  the  Cape  Fear,  but  also  of 
many  other  colonial  centres,  and  which  help  us  to  under- 
stand, even  if  they  do  not  induce  us  to  accept,  the  conserva- 
tive point  of  view  held  by  those  who  in  such  troublous  times 
remained  loyal  to  their  mother-country.  From  the  moment 
of  her  arrival  at  Brunswick  until  she  sailed  for  Portugal  in 
the  autumn  of  1775,  Miss  Schaw  gives  a  running  account  of 
affairs  in  the  Cape  Fear,  both  social  and  political,  as  seen  by 
one  of  the  group  of  loyalists  and  conservatives,  of  whom 
many  undoubtedly  were  forced  into  active  opposition  to  the 
colonial  government  by  the  violence  of  the  extreme  radicals. 
In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  learn  that  of  the  men  of 
Brunswick  and  Wilmington  whom  the  Schaws  knew  well, 
those  who  moved  to  the  Cape  Fear  from  Charleston,  such  as 
Richard  Quince,  William  Dry,  Joseph  Eagles,  James  Moore, 
and  others,  became  the  nucleus,  as  it  were,  of  the  united 
provincial  group,  which  often,  and  especially  after  the  actual 
outbreak  of  hostilities,  opposed  those  "newcomers  and  for- 
eigners" of  English  or  Scottish  birth,  such  as  Dr.  Cobham, 
Robert  Hogg,  the  Rutherfurds,  and  the  Schaws.  Such  cleav- 
ages of  friendship  were  unhappily  frequent,  for  political 
feeling  ran  high  in  all  the  colonies ;  and  it  is  not  difficult  to 
understand  Miss  Schaw's  indignation  when  she  saw  the 
radical  group  of  North  Carolina  politicians,  self-styled 
"patriots,"  forcing  into  rebellion  a  colony  which  she  believed 
had  itself  no  real  grievance  against  the  mother-country.  Her 
accounts  of  the  persecutions  of  such  refined,  intellectual  men 


INTRODUCTION 


as  Dr.  Cobham  and  Archibald  Neilson,  and  of  such  honora- 
ble business  men  as  Robert  Hogg,  Samuel  Campbell,  and 
Thomas  Macknight — persecutions  that  drove  them  either 
out  of  the  colony  entirely  or  most  unwillingly  into  the  ranks 
of  the  king's  party;  her  story  of  the  tarring  and  feathering 
of  Neilson's  valet;  of  the  enforced  drilling  of  unwilling 
"volunteers";  of  the  threats  against  the  lives  of  peaceful 
citizens  who  refused  to  "sign  the  Association" — all  these 
details,  vividly  and  feelingly  described,  together  with  her 
own  impressions  of  individuals  and  events,  constitute  a  story 
that  challenges  the  attention  of  all  those  genuinely  inter- 
ested in  our  movement  for  independence.  Such  contemporary 
evidence  makes  us  realize  that  our  forefathers,  however 
worthy  their  object,  were  engaged  in  real  rebellion  and  revo- 
lution, characterized  by  the  extremes  of  thought  and  action 
that  always  accompany  such  movements,  and  not  in  the  kind 
of  parlour  warfare,  described  in  many  of  our  text  books,  in 
which  highly  cultivated  and  periwigged  American  gentlemen 
of  unquestioned  taste  and  morality,  together  with  farmers  of 
heroic  mould,  engaged  life  and  limb  for  principles  of  demo- 
cratic government,  which  developed,  in  fact,  only  during 
later  periods  of  our  national  life.  A  definitive  account  of  the 
loyalists  in  our  revolution  has  yet  to  be  written,  but  such  a 
contribution  should  help  to  clarify  our  minds  about  the  facts 
of  our  colonial  history,  and  counteract  the  false  judgments 
and  prejudices  which  perpetuate  what  a  recent  writer  so 
aptly  describes  as  "the  ancient  grudge." 

But  this  Journal,  valuable  as  it  undoubtedly  is  as  history, 
claims  recognition  for  itself  also  as  a  literary  and  human 
document,  and  places  its  author  among  the  litterateurs  of  her 
country  and  century.  Researches,  amply  rewarded  in  other 
respects,  unfortunately  have  failed  to  secure  much  informa- 
tion about  the  personal  life  of  Janet  Schaw  herself;  but  we 
know  that  she  was  born  in  Lauriston,  a  suburb  of  Edinburgh, 
in  a  house  which  is  still  standing,  and  conjecture  that  at  the 


io       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

time  of  her  voyage  to  the  West  Indies  and  America  she  was 
possibly  thirty-five  or  forty  years  of  age.  She  came  of  an  old 
Scottish  family  that  counted  as  blood  relations  or  connec- 
tions by  marriage  Murrays,  Rutherfurds,  and  Scotts,  and 
was  herself  a  third  cousin  once  removed  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
The  common  ancestor  of  all  was  a  certain  John  Schaw,  minis- 
ter of  Selkirk,  who  had  married  Anne,  daughter  of  an  early 
Sir  John  Murray  of  Philiphaugh.  On  January  23,  1723, 
Janet's  father,  Gideon  Schaw,  was  married  to  an  Anne 
Rutherfurd,  also  a  cousin  of  Sir  Walter's  and  great-aunt  of 
the  three  Rutherfurd  children  who  accompanied  Alexander 
and  Janet  Schaw  to  America.  By  this  marriage  there  were  six 
children,  of  whom  three  only,  Robert,  Janet,  and  Alexander, 
figure  in  this  Journal.  As  early  as  1726  Gideon  Schaw  and 
his  wife  were  living  at  Lauriston  Yards,  a  fourteen  acre  farm 
just  outside  Edinburgh,  now  included  in  the  city  proper;  and 
we  know  that  there  the  eldest  daughter,  Anne,  was  born ;  but 
inasmuch  as  from  1730  to  1751  Gideon  Schaw  held  positions 
in  other  parts  of  Scotland,  and  as  we  can  find  no  records  of 
birth  or  baptism  for  Janet  or  Alexander,  we  can  only  guess 
as  to  where  they  were  born  and  when.  Janet  probably  spent 
many  years  at  Lauriston,  and  we  believe  that  she  was  resid- 
ing there  at  the  time  of  her  father's  death  in  1772,  two  and 
a  half  years  before  her  narrative  opens;  but  of  her  later  life, 
after  her  return  from  Lisbon  in  the  winter  of  1776,  we  know 
almost  nothing.  That  she  was  living  in  Edinburgh,  at  least 
for  a  time,  is  indicated  by  the  dedication  in  1778  of  one  copy 
of  the  Journal  from  "St.  Andrews  Square"  in  that  city,  and 
also  from  an  entry  in  the  Edinburgh  directory  of  1778-1779, 
which  gives  her  residence  as  "New  Town,"  a  northern  sec- 
tion of  Edinburgh  which  included  St.  Andrew's  Square. 
Such  are  the  meagre  facts  of  the  life  of  our  charming  "Lady 
of  Quality."  Had  she,  like  her  brother  Alexander  or  her  rela- 
tive John  Rutherfurd,  held  positions  of  public  trust,  or,  like 
her  brother  Robert  and  the  Rutherfurd  children,  owned  land 


J^mn'slon 

in  the  City  of 
EDINBURGH 

Jrom.  kmotYHistorv  of  Edinburgh:',^ 


INTRODUCTION     •  1 1 


on  the  Cape  Fear,  public  records  would  have  been  available 
for  her  history  as  they  have  been  for  the  history  of  these 
others;  but  she,  the  most  important  person  connected  with 
the  Journal,  remains  for  the  most  part  unrecorded.  Nor  is  the 
elusive  lady  to  be  caught  anywhere  it  seems,  for  as  far  as  we 
know  she  did  not  marry;  and  having  made  her  contribution 
to  history  and  letters,  she  passes  on — what  woman  but  will 
envy  her! — without  date,  ageless,  just  Janet  Schaw,  the 
author  of  "The  Journal  of  a  Lady  of  Quality." 

But  if  records  fail  to  furnish  the  life  history  of  our  author, 
her  Journal  is  rich  in  revelations  of  her  character  and  ability 
and  shows  her  to  be  a  well-born  Scotswoman,  loyal  to  her 
country  and  her  king,  in  her  tastes  and  preferences  an  aristo- 
crat, and  in  religious,  social,  and  political  views  a  typical 
member  of  the  educated  class  in  Scotland  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  Her  prejudices  and  antipathies, 
though  largely  temperamental,  are  to  a  certain  extent  also 
those  of  her  class;  and  although  they  do  not  invalidate  her 
sense  of  fact,  at  times  they  warp  her  judgment  and  blind  her 
to  the  real  significance  of  the  events  in  which  she  plays  an 
important  part.  But,  on  the  whole,  Miss  Schaw  exhibits  a 
tolerance  and  breadth  of  view,  especially  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  religion  and  faith,  that  seem  unusual,  unless  one 
recalls  the  fact  that  she  was  living  and  writing  at  a  time 
when  Scotland  was  not  only  passing  through  a  period  of 
great  material  prosperity,  marked  by  extension  of  trade  and 
rapid  development  in  agriculture;  but  was  also  making  her 
greatest  contribution  to  science,  philosophy,  and  literature, 
and  through  such  men  as  David  Hume,  Adam  Smith,  Black, 
Leslie,  Hutton,  and  above  all  Macpherson,  was  exercising  a 
profound  influence  on  the  contemporary  thought  of  the  intel- 
lectual world.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  Miss 
Schaw  discussing  scientific  methods  of  tilling  the  soil  and 
harvesting  the  crops,  and  drawing  comparisons  between  the 
thrifty  intensive  farming  she  had  seen  in  East  Lothian  and 


12       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  shockingly  wasteful  methods  employed  by  whites  and 
blacks  alike  on  the  plantations  of  the  Cape  Fear.  Also,  it  is 
natural  that,  inheriting  as  she  did  the  literary  traditions  of 
Allan  Ramsay  and  James  Thomson,  and  living  in  the  midst 
of  a  metaphysical  and  philosophical  renaissance,  she  should 
take  great  pride  in  the  philosophers  and  poets  of  her  country, 
should  quote  them  frequently  with  admiration  and  approval, 
and  adopt  them  as  guides  in  the  conduct  of  life.  We  almost 
catch  the  contemporary  thrill  when  she  exclaims  over  the 
magic  beauty  of  Ossian ;  and  share  her  amusement  when  she 
finds  that  the  book  from  which  Fanny  Rutherfurd  was  read- 
ing aloud  when  the  boat  seemed  to  be  sinking,  was  not  the 
Bible  but,  as  Miss  Schaw  laughingly  confesses,  Lord  Kames's 
Elements  of  Criticism  \  However,  she  is  deeply  religious  and 
revels  in  hymns  and  the  Scriptures,  as  her  frequent  quoting 
of  both  attests;  and  although  she  disclaims  being  a  bigot  and 
really  is  a  very  tolerant  person,  she  acknowledges  that  the 
force  of  habit  is  too  strong  to  allow  her  to  be  anything  more 
than  a  spectator  at  the  ceremonies  of  other  churches  than  her 
own.  She  prefers,  so  she  says  on  one  occasion  with  her  char- 
acteristic frankness,  "the  snivelling  of  a  sincere-hearted 
country  precentor"  to  the  impressive  service  and  grand  music 
of  the  beautiful  church  at  Antigua,  and  doubts  whether  there 
is  much  real  religion  in  the  ceremonious  procedure  of  the 
Anglican  church. 

Her  antipathies,  however,  are  not  only  religious,  they  are 
political  and  social  as  well ;  but  inasmuch  as  she  is  never  ill- 
humoured  in  her  criticism,  her  strong  feelings  on  various 
subjects  only  tend  to  make  her  more  vivid,  and  produce  in 
any  portrait  of  her  an  effect  of  earnestness  and  force  that 
contrast  delightfully  with  the  varied  and  lighter  sides  of  her 
character.  As  might  be  expected,  from  a  Lowland  Scot,  a 
staunch  Presbyterian,  and  a  Hanoverian,  she  is  thoroughly 
distrustful  of  her  neighbors  the  French,  who,  she  says  with 
much  contempt  are,  like  "chattering,  grimacing  monkeys, 


INTRODUCTION  13 


.  .  .  subtle  enemies  and  false  friends,  and  as  little  ashamed 
of  defeat  as  a  French  admiral  or  general."  We  can  only  hope 
that  she  lived  to  know  that  the  "little  Billie"  of  her  journal 
became  the  Captain  William  Gordon  Rutherfurd  of  the 
Swiftsure,  who,  serving  with  distinction  under  the  great 
Lord  Nelson,  took  part  in  the  defeat  of  the  hated  French  at 
the  battle  of  Trafalgar. 

It  is  in  character,  too,  that  she  should  condemn  the  radical 
American  colonists  as  rebels  and  savages,  and  be  shocked  and 
enraged  by  some  of  the  events  she  witnessed  in  the  Cape 
Fear;  for  by  temperament  and  education  Miss  Schaw  de- 
tested violence  and  cruelty,  advocated  the  authority  both  of 
the  family  and  the  state,  and  cherished  always  the  good  form 
and  courtly  manners  characteristic  of  the  refined  society  to 
which  she  was  accustomed.  That  in  social  matters  she  was 
conservative  and  valued  the  conventions  of  life  for  society 
at  large,  there  is  ample  evidence ;  though  it  is  also  true  that, 
aristocratically,  she  sometimes  claimed  exemption  for  her- 
self, as  when  she  humorously  defied  custom  and  drank  wine 
at  a  ladies'  luncheon  in  Antigua,  or,  for  purposes  of  safety 
and  convenience,  travelled  with  Archibald  Neilson  in  Por- 
tugal as  his  wife.  Also,  she  took  for  granted  a  certain  laxity 
of  morals  in  her  own  class,  when,  for  instance,  she  describes 
the  terror  of  one  of  the  emigrants,  "a  lovelorn  youth,"  who 
but  for  herself  and  her  brother  would  have  fared  badly  at 
the  hands  of  an  outraged  husband,  "a  rough  fellow,"  she 
calls  him,  "who  had  not  the  patience  of  your  husbands  of 
fashion."  But  her  prejudices  and  points  of  view,  such  as 
they  are,  only  relate  her  more  closely  to  the  very  fine  type 
to  which  she  belonged ;  while  her  intelligence,  kindly  human 
sympathies,  and  freshness  of  heart  and  mind  save  her  from 
provinciality,  and  leave  on  our  minds  the  impression  of  a 
truly  admirable  and  delightful  woman.  A  real  love  of  fun 
and  humour  and  an  instinctive  passion  for  fair  play — such 
are  the  qualities  which  she  shared  largely  with  her  brother 


14       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Alexander,  and  of  which  they  both  gave  evidence  again  and 
again  during  the  eventful  sixteen  months  of  which  the  Jour- 
nal treats.  They  make  a  charming  picture,  this  highly  bred, 
high-spirited  brother  and  sister,  who  faced  life  wherever  it 
found  them  with  courage  and  equanimity,  good  nature  and 
kindliness — he,  the  educated,  intelligent  man  of  affairs, 
prompt  in  action,  impatient  of  brutality  and  injustice, 
resourceful  in  emergencies  both  on  land  and  at  sea ;  she,  the 
candid,  warm-hearted,  quick-witted  woman  of  the  world,  a 
person  of  very  real  distinction  and  charm.  Whether  or  not 
she  was  beautiful,  we  do  not  know,  for  although  she  loves 
the  flower-like  beauty  of  Fanny  Rutherfurd  and  has  much  to 
say  of  the  good  looks  of  the  men  and  women  of  Antigua,  she 
refers  to  her  own  appearance  but  twice :  once  when  she  writes 
jocosely  that  a  passion  is  begun  between  Mr.  Baird,  the 
collector,  and  herself,  "which,  as  it  is  not  raised  on  beauty, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  lasting" ;  and  again,  when  speaking 
of  the  masks  worn  by  the  ladies  of  Antigua,  she  says,  "As  to 
your  humble  servant,  I  have  always  set  my  face  to  the 
weather,  wherever  I  have  been.  I  hope  you  have  no  quarrel 
with  brown  beauty."  But  that  she  was  genial  and  sociable, 
liking  both  men  and  women  and  liked  by  them  in  return, 
there  is  ample  proof;  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  two  such 
visitors  as  she  and  her  brother  Alexander  received  a  warm 
welcome  wherever  they  went,  and  that  their  journey  resem- 
bled more  a  royal  progress  than  a  tour  of  ordinary  travellers. 
But  it  is  not  only  as  a  faithful  chronicler  of  what  she  saw 
and  experienced,  or  as  an  interesting  and  charming  woman, 
that  Janet  Schaw  claims  attention,  but  above  all  as  an  artist, 
as  a  lover  of  beauty  and  form,  who  uses  her  masses  of  mate- 
rial with  reserve  and  discrimination,  securing  her  back- 
grounds and  atmosphere  with  delicacy  and  precision,  and 
drawing  her  figures  with  swift,  sure  strokes  of  her  pen.  Her 
imagination  plays  about  the  subjects  that  interest  her,  and 
feeling  and  emotion  lift  her  work  above  the  commonplace 


INTRODUCTION  15 


into  the  realm  of  artistic  achievement.  She  revels  in  the  smell 
of  the  air,  as  it  comes  to  her  "warm  off  the  African  coast" ; 
in  the  colour  and  perfume  of  Mrs.  Dunbar's  garden;  in  the 
richness  and  elegance  of  architecture  of  churches  and  houses 
and  public  buildings.  Picture  after  picture  she  paints  for  us 
— landscapes  of  rugged  mountains  and  bleak,  barren  lands 
with  an  almost  arctic  atmosphere;  frightful  storms  with 
boats  battling  for  their  existence;  sea-scapes  of  tropical 
islands  in  an  almost  motionless  ocean,  langourous  under  the 
rays  of  a  burning  sun;  vivid  little  genre  pictures  of  a  lady 
going  to  a  ball  dressed  out  in  all  her  "British  airs  with  a  high 
head  and  a  hoop" ;  of  emigrants  at  play  in  the  sunshine  on 
the  deck  of  a  sailing  vessel;  of  marvellous  banquets  where 
the  varieties  of  food  and  drink  seem  infinite  in  number,  and 
where  one  is  presented  with  a  refreshing  liquid  "in  a  crystal 
cup  with  cover  of  silver" ;  of  slaves  going  to  market  in  joyful 
troops,  carrying  animals  and  fruits  and  flowers  "like  a  set  of 
devotees  going  to  sacrifice  to  their  Indian  gods."  Her  por- 
trait of  the  exquisite  Lady  Belle  Hamilton  seated  in  her 
magnificent  hall  at  "Olivees,"  her  handsome  young  husband 
near  her,  and  beside  her  a  little  mulatto  girl  "dressed  out  like 
an  infant  Sultana"  possesses  in  its  effects  of  contrast  the 
quality  achieved  by  Rossetti  in  his  lovely  picture  of  "The 
Bride";  whereas  in  such  a  description  as  that  of  the  great 
storm  at  sea,  when  the  ship  with  her  sails  fluttering  in  rags 
was  all  but  lost,  our  author  seems  almost  inspired. 

Miss  Schaw  knows,  also,  the  uses,  for  artistic  purposes,  of 
fun  and  humour, — broad  at  times  as  was  characteristic  of 
the  period, — of  balance  and  rhythm,  of  imagery,  of  pathos 
and  emotion,  and  even  of  sentimentality,  and  sketches  pic- 
ture after  picture  instinct  with  warmth  and  colour  and  mo- 
tion and  the  joy  of  living.  Very  often,  especially  in  the 
descriptive  parts  of  her  work,  and  in  her  characterizations, 
she  suggests  her  compatriot  Stevenson,  who  might  have  said 
of  her  subjects  what  he  says  of  Raeburn's,  that  "the  people 


16       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

who  sat  for  these  pictures  are  not  yet  ancestors,  they  are  still 
relations.  They  are  not  yet  altogether  ja  part  of  the  dusty 
past,  but  occupy  a  middle  distance  within  cry  of  our  affec- 
tions." Her  contribution  both  to  history  and  to  literature  is 
a  real  one,  and  so  vivid  and  human  are  the  events  and  the 
people  she  depicts  as  to  make  us  feel  that  we  have  suddenly, 
and  with  real  understanding,  touched  hands,  as  it  were,  with 
our  forebears  of  the  colonial  period. 

Before  the  visitor  has  been  long  in  the  beautiful  state  of 
North  Carolina,  he  will  have  realized,  as  have  the  editors  of 
this  volume,  that  from  Miss  Schaw's  day  to  our  own  North 
Carolina  has  been  one  of  the  great  southern  triumvirate  of 
states  noted  for  the  charm  of  their  climate  and  scenery  and 
the  hospitality  of  their  people.  In  pursuit  of  material  con- 
nected with  this  Journal  the  editors  have  journeyed  from 
Great  Britain  to  North  and  South  Carolina,  finding  every- 
where such  generous  interest  and  such  a  delightful  welcome 
as  to  make  them  feel  that  those  who  have  cooperated  in  the 
volume  are  a  veritable  band  of  brother  adventurers.  Espe- 
cially are  they  indebted  to  Dr.  J.  Maitland  Thomson  of 
Edinburgh,  who  has  contributed  genealogical  information  of 
great  value  and  photographic  copies  of  letters  written  by 
Janet  Schaw;  and  to  the  present  members  of  the  Hewlett 
family,  owners  of  the  fine  colonial  house  of  "Rockhall,"  at 
Lawrence,  Long  Island,  at  times  the  home  of  the  last  royal 
governor  of  North  Carolina,  Josiah  Martin,  who  with  his 
father,  Colonel  Samuel  of  Antigua,  are  prominent  in  the 
Journal.  In  North  Carolina,  they  have  wandered  from 
Raleigh  to  the  Cape  Fear  and  Albemarle  regions,  familiariz- 
ing themselves  with  the  historical  background  of  the  Jour- 
nal, and  enjoying  the  innumerable  courtesies  that  the  North 
Carolinian  lavishes  upon  the  stranger  within  his  gates. 
Everywhere  have  they  met  with  cooperation,  but  especially 
have  they  to  thank  The  North  Carolina  Society  of  the  Colo- 
nial Dames  of  America,  who  are  contributing  financially  to 


INTRODUCTION  17 


the  publication  of  this  volume;  Mr.  John  D.  Bellamy,  Jr., 
who  has  furnished  many  facts  of  real  value;  the  late  Mr. 
John  G.  Wood  of  Edenton,  from  whose  important  collection 
of  papers  at  "Hayes"  they  have  obtained  much  information 
concerning  the  Rutherfurd  family;  and  even  more  particu- 
larly Mr.  R.  D.  W.  Connor,  secretary  of  the  North  Carolina 
Historical  Commission,  who  not  only  put  at  their  disposal 
the  manuscript  material  under  his  charge,  but  at  every  turn 
helped  on  the  work  with  real  interest  and  generous  assistance. 
Finally,  and  with  peculiar  gratitude,  the  editors  recall  the 
hospitality  and  cooperation  of  Mr.  James  Sprunt  of  Wil- 
mington, himself  a  Scot,  under  whose  kindly  guidance  they 
were  able  to  study  Wilmington  and  the  Cape  Fear,  and  to 
whom  most  affectionately  they  dedicate  this  volume. 

Today  one  perceives  very  little  of  the  isolation  that  Janet 
Schaw  felt  in  Wilmington,  now  a  beautiful  city  echoing  to 
the  hammers  of  new  shipbuilding  enterprises  that  sprang  up 
during  the  war ;  but  a  sail  down  the  Cape  Fear  River  to  the 
plantation  of  "Orton,"  sole  survivor  of  the  many  interesting 
plantations  that  dotted  the  Cape  Fear  in  colonial  times, 
recalls  her  descriptions,  and  carries  one  into  the  heart  of 
what  was  once  old  Brunswick,  the  first  settlement  that  she 
saw  on  her  arrival  in  the  province.  Today  all  that  is  left  of 
the  original  town  are  the  impressive  brick  ruins  of  St. 
Philip's  Church,  its  roof  open  to  the  sky,  its  fine  deep  win- 
dows framing  sunny  bits  of  out  of  doors,  and  its  nave  and 
aisles  picturesquely  overgrown  with  grass  and  trees.  In  the 
old  churchyard  can  be  found  graves  and  tombstones  that 
testify  to  the  burial  there  of  some  of  Janet  Schaw's  friends; 
and  starting  from  the  centre  of  what  was  once  Brunswick 
Town  are  here  and  there  magnificent  live  oaks,  still  tena- 
cious of  life  though  heavy  with  years,  and  clothed  in  the 
fantastic,  parasitic  moss  that  is  treacherously  destroying 
them.  To  the  north  the  fine  colonial  mansion  of  "Orton" 
brightly  offers  hospitality  to  the  delighted  stranger,  giving 


i8       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

him  a  sense  of  stability  and  security;  but  neither  the  deli- 
cious warm  sunshine  of  early  spring,  nor  the  odours  of  sweet- 
scented  flowers  and  shrubs  drifting  in  from  well-kept  gar- 
dens, nor  the  drowsy  washing  of  the  river  along  the  sandy 
shore  can  entirely  dispel  his  fear  lest  in  time  the  luxuriant 
jealous  forest,  which  even  now  threatens  to  overwhelm  both 
church  and  churchyard,  shall  reduce  to  jungle  and  obliterate 
forever  the  old  Brunswick  that  once  knew  Janet  Schaw. 


EVANGELINE  WALKER  ANDREWS. 


Orton  Plantation, 
March  30,  1920. 


CHAPTER     I. 

The  Voyage  to  the  West  Indies. 


Burnt  Island  Road*  on  board  the  Jamaica  Packet 
9  o'Clock  Evening  25th  Octr  1774. 


E  are  now  got  on  Board,  heartily  fatigued,  yet  not 
likely  to  sleep  very  sound  in  our  new  apartments,  which  I 
am  afraid  will  not  prove  either  very  agreeable  or  com- 
modious; nor,  from  what  I  can  see,  will  our  Ship  be  an 
exception  to  the  reflections  thrown  on  Scotch  Vessels  in 
general,  as  indeed,  nothing  can  be  less  cleanly  than  our 
Cabin,  unless  it  be  its  Commander,  and  his  friend  and  bed- 
fellow the  Supercargo.  I  hinted  to  the  Captain  that  I  thought 
our  Cabin  rather  dirty.  He  assured  me  every  Vessel  was  so 
'till  they  got  out  to  Sea,  but  that  as  soon  as  we  were  under 
way,  he  wou'd  stow  away  the  things  that  were  lumbering 
about,  and  then  all  wou'd  be  neat  during  the  Voyage.  I 
appear  to  believe  him;  it  were  in  vain  to  dispute;  here  we 
are,  and  here  we  must  be  for  sometime.  My  brother  has  laid 

*  Burntisland  is  a  seaport  of  county  Fife,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Firth 
of  Forth,  five  miles  across  from  Leith  and  Edinburgh.  As  there  was  a  ferry 
from  Leith,  it  is  quite  probable  that  Miss  Schaw  and  her  party  drove  to 
Leith  in  carriages  and  there  boarded  the  ferryboat  for  Burntisland.  The 
seaport  has  an  excellent  harbour  and  was  a  favorite  anchorage  for  vessels 
entering  or  leaving  the  firth,  but  the  fact  that  the  owner  of  the  vessel  lived 
at  Burntisland  may  furnish  an  additional  reason  for  the  place  of  departure. 
Some  of  the  Scottish  regiments  serving  in  the  Revolutionary  War  sailed 
from  this  port,  and  as  early  as  1627  we  meet  with  a  vessel  called  the 
Blessing  of  Burntisland. 


2O       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

in  store  of  whatever  may  render  our  Situation  agreeable,  and 
I  have  laid  in  a  store  of  resolution  to  be  easy,  not  to  be  sick 
if  I  can  help  it,  and  to  keep  good  humour,  whatever  I  lose; 
and  this  I  propose  to  do  by  considering  it,  what  it  is,  merely 
a  Voyage. 

As  we  have  no  passengers  but  those  of  our  own  family,  we 
will  have  all  the  accommodation  the  Vessel  is  capable  of 
affording,  and  we  can  expect  no  more. 

My  Brother  has  not  yet  got  on  Board,  I  dare  say  he  will 
be  sadly  fatigued  with  the  business  he  has  had  to  go  thro'. 
I  will  send  this  on  shore  with  the  boat  that  brings  him  off. 

I  propose  writing  you  every  day,  but  you  must  not  expect 
a  regular  Journal.  I  will  not  fail  to  write  whatever  can 
amuse  myself;  and  whether  you  find  it  entertaining  or  not, 
I  know  you  will  not  refuse  it  a  reading,  as  every  subject  will 
be  guided  by  my  own  immediate  feelings.  My  opinions  and 
descriptions  will  depend  on  the  health  and  the  humour  of 
the  Moment,  in  which  I  write;  from  which  cause  my  Senti- 
ments will  often  appear  to  differ  on  the  same  subject.  Let 
this  therefore  serve  as  a  general  Apology  for  whatever  you 
observe  to  do  so  thro'  my  future  Letters. 

I  am  just  now  contemplating  the  various  Sensations  our 
intended  Voyage  and  its  destination  produce  in  the  little 
Group  around  me.*  The  two  young  Rutherfurds  have  not  the 
most  distant  remembrance  of  their  Father,  yet  such  is  the 
power  of  natural  affection  on  their  little  hearts,  that  they 
are  transported  with  the  Idea  of  seeing  him,  and  were  they  to 
draw  his  Portrait  I  dare  say  it  wou'd  be  the  most  charming 
picture  in  the  world;  as  the  three  people  they  love  best  are 
with  them,  they  have  nothing  to  damp  their  pleasure.  The 
case  however  is  different  with  their  Sister,  she  perfectly 

*  Miss  Schaw  was  accompanied  by  her  brother,  Alexander,  and  by  the 
three  children  of  John  Rutherfurd,  of  North  Carolina — Fanny,  aged 
eighteen  or  nineteen,  John  Jr.,  aged  eleven,  and  William  Gordon,  aged  nine, 
all  of  whom,  though  born  in  North  Carolina,  had  been  sent  to  Scotland  in 
1767  for  their  education. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         21 

remembers  her  Father,  and  tho'  she  is  equally  rejoiced  at  the 
hopes  of  being  once  more  clasped  to  the  bosom  of  a  fond 
Parent,  yet  her  satisfaction  is  check'd  by  various  considera- 
tions. In  the  first  place,  her  Modesty  makes  her  afraid  he  has 
drawn  a  picture  of  her  person  in  his  own  Imagination,  to 
which  she  will  by  no  means  come  up,  and  her  diffidence  of 
her  own  attainments  makes  her  fear  he  will  not  find  her  so 
accomplished  as  he  has  reason  to  expect.  I  believe  she  may 
make  herself  easy  as  to  these,  for  few  Fathers  ever  had  better 
reason  to  be  satisfied. 

But  there  is  another  Source  of  distress,  to  a  sensible  mind, 
still  more  severe.  In  this  Country*  all  her  early  friendships 
and  connexions  have  commenced,  which  can  only  be  form'd 
in  the  delightful  Season  of  Youth ;  to  break  these  all  at  once, 
and  bid  them  an  eternal  farewell,  requires  the  utmost  exer- 
tion of  fortitude,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  it  has  been  no 
easy  task.  As  to  myself,  the  approbation  of  my  own  conduct 
is  my  support  against  a  thousand  invading  Passions.  I  had 
long  taken  root  in  my  native  Soil,  yet  it  is  not  the  spot  of 
Earth  that  gave  me  being  I  call  my  Country.  No!  it  is  the 
Social  Circle  of  such  friends,  as  few  can  boast  their  brightest 
hours  of  prosperity  were  enriched  with,  it  was  these  that  con- 
stituted my  happiness;  the  western  world  may  shew  me 
higher  Scenes  of  riches,  and  Luxury  may  bid  me  view  the 
difference,  and  how  far  they  exceed  us,  but  never  can  they 
afford  my  soul  such  evening  Conversations  as  I  have  feasted 
on  in  the  friendly  Circle  of  our  Chearfull  Hearth. 

Give  me  again  that  glowing  sense  to  warm, 
The  song  to  warble,  and  the  wit  to  charm. 

My  going  will  chear  the  Travils  of  the  best  of  Brothers,  and 
once  more  give  me  the  other,  lost  from  childhood.f  Time  will 

*  Scotland. 

t  The  "best  of  brothers"  was,  of  course,  Alexander ;  "the  other,  lost  from 
childhood,"  was  Miss  Schaw's  brother  Robert,  probably  older  than  herself. 
Later  in  the  narrative,  she  says  that  he  "had  not  seen  a  bleaching-washing 


22       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

restore  me  to  you,  perhaps  to  my  dear  Native  land,  on  which 
may  Heaven  shower  its  choicest  blessings.  But  farewell,  my 
spirits  are  quite  worn  out,  and  my  fatigues  require  rest,  tho' 
I  fear  my  narrow  bed  will  be  no  great  inducement  to  the 
drowsy  powers.  Adieu,  sound  and  peaceful  be  the  slumbers 
of  my  friend,  whatever  Mine  prove. 

Sleep  was  more  obliging  than  I  expected;  it  was  not  long 
before  all  my  cares  were  lost,  which  wou'd  sooner  have  hap- 
pened, but  from  the  music  of  Mrs  Mary's  nose  who  had  got 
the  start  of  me.* 

Our  Bed  chamber,  which  is  dignified  with  the  title  of 
State  Room,  is  about  five  foot  wide  and  six  long;  on  one  side 
is  a  bed  fitted  up  for  Miss  Rutherfurd  and  on  the  opposite 
side  one  for  me.  Poor  Fanny's  is  so  very  narrow,  that  she  is 
forced  to  be  tied  in,  or  as  the  Sea  term  is  lashed  in,  to  prevent 
her  falling  over.  On  the  floor  below  us  lies  our  Abigail,  Mrs 
Mary,  now  Mrs  Miller.  As  she  has  the  breadth  of  both  our 
Beds  and  excellent  Bedding,  I  think  she  has  got  a  most 
envyable  berth,  but  this  is  far  from  her  opinion,  and  she  has 
done  nothing  but  grumble  about  her  accommodation,  and 
I  fear  will  prove  a  most  complete  Abigail  indeed. 

We  had  not  slept  above  an  hour,  when  my  Brother 
arrived,  he  let  down  the  half  door  to  enquire  after  our 
healths.  We  both  waked  with  pleasure  at  his  well-known  and 
friendly  Voice,  and  made  him  happy  by  assuring  him  we 
found  ourselves  much  better  than  we  expected.  After  deliver- 
ing the  affectionate  Compliments  of  merry  friends,  he 
warned  us  not  to  be  alarmed  if  We  heard  a  noise  and  scream- 
ing on  Deck,  for  that  the  boat  had  gone  off  to  bring  Ovid, 
our  owners  poor  Devil  of  a  Negro  man  on  Board,  who  was  to 

since  he  was  a  boy,"  which  would  mean  that  he  must  have  left  Scotland  at 
a  very  early  age.  For  a  further  account  of  him,  see  Appendix  XII. 

*  "Mrs  Mary"  was  Mrs.  Mary  Miller,  Miss  Schaw's  waiting  woman,  who 
accompanied  her  mistress  on  her  travels.  Whether  she  attended  Miss  Schaw 
during  her  Lisbon  sojourn  is  doubtful  (see  below,  page  210,  note). 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         23 

be  laid  in  Irons,  'till  we  were  fairly  out  at  Sea.  We  desired 
to  know  what  crime  the  poor  wretch  had  committed  to  de- 
serve so  hard  a  sentence.  He  replied,  he  knew  of  none,  for  he 
believed  he  was  a  much  worthier  man  than  his  Master,  whom 
he  had  reason  to  think  a  very  great  scoundrel  without  heart 
or  feeling.  Just  then  we  heard  the  Boat  along  side:  my 
brother  left  us,  and  went  on  Deck  to  mitigate,  if  possible, 
the  rigours  intended  against  this  unfortunate  creature,  and 
we  lay  trembling  in  fearful  expectation  of  the  event,  but 
happily  for  our  feelings,  poor  Ovid  finding  himself  over- 
powered by  numbers,  submitted  without  resistance. 

Just  then  Mrs  Miller  awoke,  was  much  surprised  how  we 
could  sleep  in  so  odious  an  hole,  for  her  part,  she  never  ex- 
pected to  close  an  eye  in  this  Vile  ship,  was  deadly  sick  with 
the  motion  (tho'  by  the  bye  it  had  not  yet  begun  to  move), 
and  fell  fast  asleep  with  the  words  half  pronounced  on  her 
Tongue.  I  am  sure  she  is  to  be  a  great  plague,  but  as  she 
has  left  her  Country  with  us,  nothing  shall  prevent  her  being 
kindly  treated,  however  little  she  may  deserve  it  from  her 
behaviour.  My  brother,  who  was  sadly  fatigued,  had  got 
into  his  Cott,  which  swings  from  the  roof  of  the  Cabin ;  our 
two  little  men  were  fast  asleep  in  a  bed  just  below  him, 
when  we  were  informed  from  the  Deck  that  they  were  going 
to  weigh  anchor.  Every  body  that  was  able,  got  up  to  see  this 
first  grand  operation.  My  Brother  descended  from  his  Cot, 
the  boys  sprung  out  of  bed,  all  hands  were  on  Deck,  hurry, 
bustle,  noise,  and  confusion  raged  thro'  our  wooden  king- 
dom, yet  it  was  surprizing  how  soon  every  thing  was  reduced 
to  order.  In  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  all  was 
over,  the  watch  was  set,  and  nothing  to  be  heard,  but  the 
sound  of  the  man's  feet  moving  regularly  backwards  and 
forwards  at  the  helm,  and  the  crowing  of  a  Cock  that  the 
noise  had  waked  in  the  Hen  Coop.  My  Brother,  as  he  again 
retired  to  his  airy  couch,  informed  us  in  passing  our  state 
room,  that  we  were  now  underway,  and  that  we  wou'd  be 


24       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

in  the  Channel*  in  a  few  hours,  where  we  wou'd  have  the 
finest  view  of  the  finest  Country  in  the  World.  He  then  gave 
poor  Fanny  some  Saline  drops  to  settle  her  stomach,  which 
had  felt  the  very  first  motion  of  the  ship;  a  circumstance  that 
gives  me  much  concern,  as  I  fear  she  will  find  it  too  much 
thro'  our  Voyage.  As  yet  I  am  very  well,  and  hope  I  will  not 
be  much  hurt,  tho'  I  must  expect  a  little  touch  as  well  as 
others.  My  Brother  now  mounted  into  his  Cot,  the  boys  got 
to  bed,  we  shut  up  our  half  door,  and  in  a  few  moments,  we 
were  all  again  in  the  arms  of  Sleep. 

But  short  must  be  the  slumber  in  so  unquiet  and  uncertain 
a  situation,  we  were  soon  roused  again  by  the  Voice  of  our 
Capn,f  who  was  talking  to  my  Brother,  and  it  was  with  no 
small  vexation  that  we  were  informed  by  him  that  the  wind 
had  chopt  about,  and  being  now  full  in  our  Teeth,  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  proceed  up  the  channel,  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  change  his  course,  and  go  round  by  the  North  of 
Scotland.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  imagine  a  more  disagree- 
able passage  at  this  Season  of  the  Year  than  this  must  be. 
The  many  Islands,  Shelves  and  Rocks,  render  it  very  danger- 
ous, which,  with  the  addition  of  a  rough  sea,  sudden  squalls, 
and  the  coldest  climate  in  Britain,  gives  as  uncomfortable  a 
prospect  as  one  wou'd  wish.  However  my  brother  agreed, 
all  hands  were  called,  hurry  again  filled  the  Vessel,  "About 
Ship"  was  now  the  word,  in  the  performing  of  which  opera- 
tion, every  thing  was  tumbled  topsyturvy.  A  few  moments 
however  settled  us  once  more,  and  quietness  wou'd  again 
have  restored  us  to  rest,  had  not  the  Cock,  as  harbinger  of 
day,  repeatedly  told  us  it  was  now  morning.  Nor  were  we 
the  only  passengers  on  Board  whom  this  information  con- 

*  The  "Channel"  is  the  Firth  of  Forth. 

f  The  captain  was  Thomas  Smith,  and  the  vessel  a  brig  or  frigate  of 
eighty  tons,  built  in  Massachusetts  in  1772  and  registered  at  Kirkcaldy,  a 
seaport  of  Fife,  northeast  of  Burntisland  and  the  nearest  port  with  a  naval 
office.  Captain  Smith  had  registered  the  vessel  on  October  22,  three  days 
before  sailing  (see  below,  page  144,  note). 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          25 

cerned,  his  wives  and  children  who  now  heard  him,  made 
such  an  outcry  for  Breakfast,  as  shewed  their  Stomachs  suf- 
fered nothing  from  the  Sea  Air. 

Their  demands  complied  with,  the  outcry  ceased,  but  they 
kept  such  a  Peck  Pecking  directly  over  head,  that  it  was 
impossible  to  rest,  and  banished  all  desire  to  sleep.  This  was 
a  Misfortune  much  less  felt  by  me  than  my  poor  young 
friend,  who  was  now  sick  to  death.  I  prevailed  on  Mrs  Miller 
to  get  up  and  give  us  a  dish  of  Tea,  this  she  actually  tried, 
but  was  not  able  to  stand  on  her  feet,  as  she  was  now  really 
sick,  and  the  motion  of  the  Ship  very  violent.  It  was  in  vain 
for  either  of  us  to  think  of  moving,  and  we  were  almost  in 
despair,  when  fortunately  I  bethought  me  of  Robert,  my 
brother's  Indian  servant,  a  handy  good  fellow.  "Oh !"  cried 
I,  to  the  first  that  I  saw,  "oh!  for  Heaven's  sake  send  us 
Rob1,  Black  Rob1."  Rob1  approached  our  state  room,  with 
all  the  dignity  of  a  slow-stalking  Indian  Chief.  "Dear  Rob1," 
exclaimed  I,  "cou'd  you  be  so  good  as  to  get  us  a  dish  of 
Tea1?"  "To  be  certain,  my  Lady,"  replied  he,  "but  Miss  is 
very  badly,  and  Tea  is  not  good  for  her;  I  will  get  her  a  little 
good  Chicken  broth."  "Do,  dear  Rob1,"  cried  poor  Fanny,  in 
a  voice  of  the  utmost  thankfulness.  Rob*  stalked  off,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  he  made  his  appearance  with  a  Mess  of 
the  most  charming  chicken  broth  that  ever  comforted  a  sick 
stomach;  and  if  ever  you  are  again  at  Sea,  pray,  remember 
Robert's  receipt,  and  if  you  do  not  find  it  the  best  thing  you 
ever  tasted,  surely  I  have  no  judgment  in  Broths.  Rob1  dealt 
out  his  benefits  in  Tea  cup-fulls,  every  one  had  a  little,  and 
every  one  had  a  desire  for  more,  so  that  his  broth  went  thro' 
many  Editions. 

My  Brother  was  now  up,  and  tho'  he  wou'd  not  own  he 
was  sick,  yet  confessed  he  was  a  degree  at  least  beyond 
squeemish.  This  he  attributed  to  the  smell  of  the  Cabin,  and 
to  say  the  truth,  this  alone  was  enough.  This  sense  of  his  has 
often  been  troublesome  to  him,  and  I  am  much  mistaken,  if 


26       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

he  will  find  pleasure  from  it  during  his  abode  in  the  Jamaica 
Packet.  Even  the  boys  complain  of  being,  they  do  not  know 
how-ish,  so  he  and  they  have  gone  on  deck  to  try  the  Air.  But 
tho'  I  make  no  doubt  this  is  a  good  receipt,  it  is  not  in  Miss 
Rutherfurd's  power  or  mine  to  follow  their  Example,  for, 
besides  that  we  cannot  keep  our  feet  one  moment,  the  Cli- 
mate, we  are  in,  is  one  of  the  coldest  and  worst  in  the  World. 
The  air  is  bitter  beyond  expression,  with  the  addition  of  a 
constant  dragling  rain  which  renders  it  unsufferable,  even  to 
the  poor  Sailors,  who  are  hardly  able  to  stand  out  the  watch ; 
and  as  they  never  fail  to  be  wet  thro'  and  thro',  my  Brother 
is  become  very  anxious  about  their  healths,  as  he  observes 
we  have  not  half  the  compliment  the  Owner  bargained  with 
him  for;  his  being  obliged  to  stay  so  long  at  London  made 
him  trust  to  this  fellow  Parker  the  owner  of  the  Ship,*  and 
I  am  afraid  we  will  find  he  has  not  paid  much  regard  to  the 
confidence  that  was  reposed  in  him. 

He  came  and  pressed  this  Vessel  on  us,  declaring  that  as 
he  had  the  highest  obligation  to  Mr  Rutherfurd  and  my 
brother  in  Carolina,  he  had  brought  this  ship  from  New- 
castle, where  he  was  destined  for  a  different  Voyage,  on  pur- 
pose to  accommodate  us,  as  she  was  an  excellent  Vessel,  and 
he  could  let  us  have  her  entirely  to  ourselves.  He  affected  a 
perfect  indifference  as  to  terms,  which,  however,  in  the  end, 

*  The  owner  of  the  ship,  the  Jamaica  Packet,  was  George  Parker,  who 
had  lived  in  Wilmington  from  1762  to  1771  as  a  householder  and  merchant, 
and  was  well  known  to  Rutherfurd  and  the  Schaws.  He  had  been  a  town 
commissioner  in  1764,  and  in  1766,  as  owner  of  the  ship  Nancy,  had  taken 
part  in  the  protest  against  the  stamps  during  the  Stamp  Act  troubles.  In 
1771  he  decided  to  leave  Wilmington  and  go  to  Burntisland,  where  he  had  a 
brother.  Consequently,  he  sold  his  house  on  Market  Street,  his  lands,  negroes, 
pettiauger,  furniture,  chaise,  etc.,  for  £910  (Wilmington,  Register's  Office, 
Conveyances,  F,  157-160)  and  returned  to  Scotland.  He  seems  to  have  been 
under  some  obligation  to  Rutherfurd,  but  in  his  dealings  with  Miss  Schaw 
and  her  party  showed  very  little  honesty  or  friendship.  There  are  references 
to  him  in  the  Brunswick  County  Records,  Conveyances,  A,  129-130,  the 
North  Carolina  Colonial  Records,  VI,  177-178,  and  the  Wilmington  Town 
Records. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         27 

turned  out  very  high.  We  had  the  precaution  however  to 
have  her  Hull  viewed,  which  was  declared  vastly  good,  and 
I  hope  is  so.  He  told  us  his  plan  was  to  send  her  with  a  light 
lading  to  the  West  Indies,  where  she  would  dispose  of  her 
Cargo,  and,  after  taking  in  some  Rum,  Sugar,  etc.,  wou'd  sail 
with  my  Brother  (as  soon  as  he  had  settled  his  affairs  at  S' 
Kitts*)  to  whatever  American  Port  he  desired. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  being  warm,  do  what  we  will, 
and  tho'  we  have  but  little  wind  hitherto,  yet  we  are  jaulted 
to  death  by  the  motion  of  the  ship  in  these  rough  seas.  Yet 
the  Cap1  is  every  moment  congratulating  us  on  the  smooth- 
ness of  our  Vessel,  which  he  declares  is  so  soft  in  her  Motion, 
that  one  may  play  at  Bowls  on  the  deck.  However  as  I  am 
like  to  beat  out  my  teeth  every  time  I  try  to  drink,  and 
often  after  all  am  not  able  to  bring  the  cup  to  such  a  direc- 
tion as  to  obtain  my  desire,  I  cannot  help  thinking  he  rather 
overrates  the  gentleness  of  her  Motions,  tho'  the  mate  in 
confirmation  of  what  his  Captain  says,  asserts,  that  last  time 
he  crossed  the  Atlantick  even  in  a  calm,  they  were  forced  to 
ly  flat  on  their  faces,  which  the  hogs  stubbornly  refusing,  had 
their  brains  knocked  out  against  the  sides  of  the  ship.  How 
happy  are  we,  who  are  only  in  danger  of  losing  teeth  and 
breaking  limbs. 

As  I  was  amusing  myself  with  my  pen,  and  Fanny  with 
her  book,  a  little  while  ago,  my  brother  came  into  the  Cabin, 
and  informing  us  the  weather  was  tolerable  fair.  He  had 
provided  watch-coats  to  secure  us  from  the  cold,  and  begged 
we  would  go  with  him  upon  deck,  as  he  was  sure  a  little  fresh 
air  would  do  us  much  good.  We  immediately  accepted  his 
invitation,  and  while  we  were  preparing  for  this  excursion, 
I  asked  my  brother,  if  he  had  seen  all  our  crew,  and  what 
sort  of  hands  they  were ;  for  that  as  I  lay  awake  last  night  in 
bed,  I  heard  a  heavy  groan,  (from  that  part  of  the  steeragef 

*  Alexander  was  going  out  as  searcher  of  customs  at  St.  Christopher. 

f  "Steerage"  in  the  sailing  vessels  of  the  day  was  the  space  below  decks 


28       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

which  is  only  divided  by  a  few  boards  from  our  State  room, ) 
when  presently  a  Voice  called  out,  "What's  the  matter, 
man,"  on  which  the  groaner  (as  I  supposed)  replied,  "Alas! 
alas !  this  is  a  hard  pillow  for  three  score  years  to  rest  on." 
My  brother  smiling  took  me  by  the  hand,  and  reaching  out 
the  other  to  Fanny,  bade  us  come  along,  and  we  wou'd  prob- 
ably discover  our  groaning  Neighbour.  We  now  ascended  the 
Companion  or  Cabin  stair,  when,  judge  of  my  surprize,  I  saw 
the  deck  covered  with  people  of  all  ages,  from  three  weeks 
old  to  three  score,  men,  women,  children  and  suckling  in- 
fants. For  some  time  I  was  unable  to  credit  my  senses,  it 
appeared  a  scene  raised  by  the  power  of  Magic  to  bring  such 
a  crowd  together  in  the  middle  of  the  Sea,  when  I  believed 
there  was  not  a  soul  aboard  but  the  ship's  crew  and  our  own 
family.  Never  did  my  eyes  behold  so  wretched,  so  disgusting 
a  sight.  They  looked  like  a  Cargo  of  Dean  Swift's  Yahoos* 
newly  caught. 

It  was  impossible  to  account  for  this  strange  apparition, 
till  the  Captain  informed  me,  that  they  were  a  company  of 
Emigrants,  f  whom  the  owner  had  made  him  smuggle  aboard 
privately,  and  had  ordered  to  be  kept  close  under  the  hatches 
till  we  were  out  at  sea.  He  vindicated  himself,  by  declaring, 
he  was  under  the  most  absolute  necessity  of  obeying  the 
owner,  whom  he  sincerely  believed  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
Villains  upon  earth;  that  he  and  every  one  was  much  sur- 
prized how  we  came  to  trust  him,  for  that  his  character  as  a 
scoundrel  was  notorious  wherever  he  had  lived,  that  he  him- 
self had  been  ruined  by  him,  and  was  now  forced  to  serve 
him,  as  he  had  got  his  all  into  his  possession,  and  put  it  out 
of  his  power  to  make  bread  in  any  other  way.  To  this  he 

aft,  that  is,  in  the  stern  of  the  vessel.  The  accommodations,  as  the  narrative 
shows,  were  straitened  and  uncomfortable.  "Steerage  passengers"  are  men- 
tioned quite  early  in  the  eighteenth  century. 

*  The  Yahoos  of  Gulliver's  Travels  are  described  as  brutes  with  human 
forms  and  vicious  and  uncleanly  habits. 

f  For  the  highland  emigration  of  these  years,  see  Appendix  I. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         29 

added  many  other  particulars,  and  summed  up  all  by  the 

comfortable  intimation,  that  C r,  the  supercargo,*  was 

just  such  another,  and  put  on  board  for  the  express  purpose 
of  cheating  and  deceiving  us ;  he,  the  Captain,  being  thought 
too  honest  to  perform  this  piece  of  duty.  This  tale  he  has 
also  told  my  brother,  which  the  goodness  of  his  own  heart 
induces  him  to  believe :  but  for  my  own  part,  I  take  it  to  be  a 
forged  story  altogether,  and  that  they  are  all  alike.  The 
mate,  however,  notwithstanding  the  story  of  the  hogs,  seems 
an  honest  plain  fellow,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  much 
better  of  him  than  of  the  others.  Indeed  he  does  not  entertain 
a  very  high  opinion  of  his  messmates  himself,  nor  appears 
much  satisfied  with  his  present  berth,  but  says  it  is  like 
Padie's  Candles,  it  will  not  mend.  He  so  often  mentioned 

*  Though  it  is  hardly  possible  to  recover  the  name  of  the  supercargo,  his 
character  as  "a  republican  and  a  violent  American"  is  a  sufficient  indentifica- 
tion.  He  will  be  met  with  again  (pp.  64,  65).  It  is  evident  that  Miss  Schaw 
did  not  like  him,  deeming  him  a  silly  fellow  and  a  fool. 

A  "supercargo"  was  an  officer  of  a  merchant  ship  who  was  entrusted  with 
the  sale  of  the  cargo  and  other  commercial  transactions.  Such  an  officer 
required  not  only  a  knowledge  of  business,  but  also  a  certain  amount  of 
diplomatic  skill  to  deal  with  extraordinary  situations.  The  following  ex- 
planation of  the  origin  of  this  functionary  is  given  by  an  old  American  naval 
commander.  "Captains  of  ships  were  not  often  educated  men ;  they  began  to 
go  to  sea  very  young,  they  learned  just  enough  to  navigate  their  ships  in  the 
.simple  way  and  with  the  crude  instruments  of  that  day.  They  could  handle 
their  ships  under  all  circumstances  and  they  were  proficients  with  lead  and 
line,  etc.,  but  they  were  not  merchants,  and  generally  knew  nothing  about 
buying  and  selling  cargoes ;  consequently  it  was  necessary  that  a  merchant 
should  go  with  the  ship  to  do  the  cargo-selling  and  buying,  and  that  man  was 
the  Supercargo.  They  were  always  men  of  mercantile  education,  often  of 
extensive  education,  collegiate,  etc.,  etc.  At  sea,  after  preparing  their  account- 
books,  etc.,  they  had  little  to  do  and  they  often  learned  to  handle  the  ship, 
to  navigate,  etc.,  and  became  expert  seamen.  Bowditch,  whose  work  on  Navi- 
gation [1802]  is  the  basis  of  most  navigation  books  and  whose  own  work  is 
used  by  three-fourths  of  the  navigators  of  the  world,  was  the  supercargo  of 
a  ship.  He  learned  seamanship  for  want  of  something  else  to  do.  He  was  a 
college  graduate  and  stood  high  as  a  mathematician,  and  when  he  took  up 
navigation  on  board  the  ship  he  found  the  methods  in  use  were  crude  and 
erroneous  and  he  proposed  to  make  new  rules  and  processes  and  actually  did 
make  new  rules  from  day  to  day,  which  the  captain  used  and  pronounced 
much  better  than  the  old  methods."  Letter  from  Commander  Edward  Hooker, 
November  9,  1894  (Connecticut  Historical  Society). 


30       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Padie's  candles,  that  I  became  curious  to  know  what  sort  of 
things  they  were,  and  found  it  was  a  favourite  foremast  joke 
of  a  teague,*  who  hung  some  candles  before  a  fire  to  dry,  and 
as  they  melted,  swore,  arrah,  on  my  soul,  now  the  more  they 
dry  the  more  they  wet.  This  may  be  no  joke  to  you,  but  has 
been  such  a  one  to  us,  that  I  am  afraid  the  youngsters  will 
make  the  poor  man  ashamed  of  his  only  piece  of  wit. 

As  I  am  resolved  no  more  to  encounter  these  wretched 
human  beings,  I  will  have  the  more  time  to  write.  Indeed  you 
never  beheld  any  thing  like  them.  They  were  fully  as  sensi- 
ble of  the  motion  of  the  Vessel  as  we  were,  and  sickness 
works  more  ways  than  one,  so  that  the  smell  which  came 
from  the  hole,  where  they  had  been  confined,  was  sufficient 
to  raise  a  plague  aboard.  I  am  besides  not  a  little  afraid,  they 
may  bestow  upon  me  some  of  their  live-stock,  for  I  make  no 
doubt  they  have  brought  thousands  alongst  with  them. 
Faugh!  let  me  not  think  of  it;  it  affects  my  stomach  more 
than  this  smooth  sailing  Vessel,  or  this  shocking  rough  Sea, 
in  which  we  are  tumbling  about  so,  that  I  can  hardly  hold 
the  pen. 

I  am  warm  nowhere  but  in  bed,  and  it  is  really  surprizing 
how  sound  we  sleep ;  we  wake  indeed  regularly  at  the  calling 
of  every  watch;  but  I  begin  to  think  it  chearful.  Poor  Fanny 
is  still  vastly  sick ;  when  out  of  bed,  she  sits  like  a  statue  of 
monumental  Alabaster,  so  white,  so  cold  and  so  patient.  This 
is  by  no  means  the  case  with  my  brother,  who  is  deadly  sick 
and  even  as  impatient  as  it  is  possible.  I  am  quite  distressed 
to  see  him  in  such  a  plight,  and  can  discover  nothing  to  give 
him  relief.  I  have  exhausted  all  my  physic  and  cookery  to  no 
purpose,  poor  soul,  nothing  sits  on  his  stomach,  nor  can  he 
rest  a  moment  thro'  the  Night,  but  bounces  in  and  out  of  his 

*  "Teague"  was  a  word  for  a  simple,  unsophisticated  Irishman,  used 
generally  in  a  half  contemptuous  sense.  In  origin  the  name  was  that  of  a 
faithful  Irish  servant,  blundering  and  inefficient,  one  of  the  characters  in  Sir 
Robert  Howard's  comedy,  "The  Committee"  (1665). 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         31 

cot,  every  quarter  of  an  hour,  the  ropes  of  which  not  being 
originally  strong,  down  it  comes,  then  all  hands  to  tie  him 
up.  He  gives  them  many  a  hearty  curse,  and  truly  I  am  often 
tempted  to  join  him.  His  sufferings  however  never  get  the 
better  of  his  good  humour,  he  laughs  at  himself,  and  would 
freely  allow  me  the  same  liberty,  had  I  the  heart  to  use  it; 
he  comforts  poor  Fanny;  tho',  thank  God,  she  is  not  near  so 
ill  as  he  is. 

I  must  now  go  and  prepare  for  bed,  which,  I  assure  you, 
is  no  easy  task,  the  toilet  engages  much  more  of  my  time  at 
Sea  than  ever  it  did  at  land ;  we  sit  in  bed  till  we  dress,  and 
get  into  it,  when  ever  we  begin  to  undress. 

Mrs  Miller  is  in  such  bad  humour  that  we  dare  hardly 
speak  to  her.  This,  you  may  believe,  would  be  matter  of  little 
moment,  were  she  not  mistress  of  the  provisions,  and  will 
let  us  have  nothing  but  what  she  chuses;  we  have,  particu- 
larly, a  large  quantity  of  eggs  prepared  to  keep  thro'  the 
Voyage.  Miss  Rutherfurd,  this  morning,  humbly  begged  one, 
but  had  not  interest  sufficient  to  obtain  it,  tho'  she  saw  Mary 
eat  a  couple  very  comfortably  to  her  own  breakfast.  If  you 
have  a  mind  to  learn,  they  say,  go  to  Sea.  I  remember  an 
Anecdote  of  the  Ship's  Crew  aboard  which  the  Duke  of 
Glocester  first  went  abroad.  The  Sailors  were  all  drawn  up 
to  pay  they  Compts  as  he  came  on  board,  but  his  highness 
hurried  into  the  Cabin,  without  taking  the  least  notice  of 
them.  "I  think,"  cries  Jack  to  Tom,  "this  same  prince  or 
Duke,  has  d — d  little  manners."  "Why,  where  the  devil 
should  he  have  got  them,"  returned  Tom,  "when  he  never 
was  at  Sea  before."  And  so,  dearest  friend,  good  night,  dream 
of  me,  as  I  shall  try  to  do  of  you. 

My  poor  brother  has  passed  another  night,  with  as  little 
comfort  as  the  former.  He  finds  himself  worst  in  the  Cabin, 
and  for  that  reason,  stays  continually  on  deck,  notwithstand- 
ing the  constant  Rains,  the  oze  and  even  the  waves  that  wet 
him  thro'  and  thro'.  The  Vessel  is  so  deeply  loaded,  that  she 


32       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

is  within  a  few  inches  of  the  water,  by  which  means  the 
waves  come  all  over  the  Deck.  This  indeed  looks  frightful, 
but  as  yet  we  have  only  a  rough  Sea  to  combat,  for  we  have 
no  more  wind  than  is  necessary  to  swell  our  sails  and  bear  us 
along,  and  this,  they  assure  us,  is  the  reason  we  feel  it  so 
rough,  as  the  ship  lies  tumbling  about  amongst  the  waves, 
and  has  not  her  sails  sufficiently  filled  to  buoy  her  above 
them ;  and  this  reasoning  I  begin  to  comprehend,  yet  cannot 
find  in  my  heart  to  wish  an  increase  of  wind. 

We  have  just  finished  breakfast,  a  meal  which  costs  no 
little  trouble.  Miss  Rutherfurd  can  get  nothing  she  is  able 
to  taste.  Tea  without  milk  she  cannot  drink,  and  Coffee  is 
reprobated  by  us  all  for  the  same  want.  We  tried  chocolate, 
but  found  it  much  too  heavy.  I  have  carried  one  point  and 
got  eggs,  but  we  unfortunately  trusted  the  provideing  the 
bread  to  our  owner,  and  there  is  not  a  bisket  on  board  fit  for 
any  thing  but  the  hogs.  However,  my  brother  had  swallowed 
an  egg,  and  was  just  going  to  drink  a  cup  of  burnt  Claret 
with  spiceries,  which  Robert  was  cooking  over  the  Cabin 
stove,  with  much  care  and  attention,  when  the  Nasty  Cap- 
tain coming  down  to  take  a  dram  from  his  gin  case,  set  all 
our  stomachs  topsy  turvy  by  the  smell.  My  brother  flew  to 
the  deck,  Miss  Rutherfurd  to  her  state  room,  I  applied  to  my 
smelling  bottle,  while  Mrs  Miller  more  wisely  than  any  of 
us  joined  the  Captain,  and  finds  herself  much  the  better 
for  it. 

Notwithstanding  my  resolutions  of  going  no  more  on  deck, 
I  must  attend  my  brother  there  just  now,  as  he  has  sent  to 
let  us  know  that  we  are  passing  the  fine  islands  of  Orkney 
and  Shetland.  I  little  expected  even  to  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  them,  so  will  give  them  a  look  in  spite  of  the 
cold  that  flows  off  their  frozen  mountains. 

I  left  you  yesterday  to  view  the  Scotch  Islands,  which  I 
accordingly  did.  We  were  almost  opposite  to  Shetland,  when 
we  came  on  deck,  but  it  afforded  nothing  to  please  my  eye, 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         33 

or  atone  for  the  cold,  that  I  suffered  in  looking  at  its  barren 
heaths,  frozen  mountains  and  wild  tracts  of  frightful  rocks ; 
and  I  was  turning  in  disgust  from  so  chearless  a  scene,  when 
my  attention  was  caught  by  one  of  the  most  affecting  scenes 
that  could  be  presented  to  a  feeling  heart,  and,  I  thank  God, 
mine  is  not  composed  of  very  hard  materials.  It  is  so  warm 
on  my  mind  that  I  fear  I  will  not  be  able  to  reduce  it  into 
order,  but  if  I  am  able  to  paint  it  the  least  like  what  I  feel  it, 
I  am  sure  you  will  share  my  feelings. 

You  remember  I  told  you  some  days  ago  how  much  I  had 
been  surprized,  as  well  as  disgusted,  at  the  appearance  of  a 
company  of  Emigrants,  who  had  been  privately  put  aboard 
our  Ship.  I  was  too  much  chagrined  at  their  being  with  us  to 
give  myself  the  trouble  of  inquiring  who  they  were,  but  now 
find  they  are  a  company  of  hapless  exiles,  from  the  Islands  Y 
we  have  just  passed,  forced  by  the  hand  of  oppression  from 
their  native  land. 

The  Islands  were  now  full  in  sight,*  and  they  had  all 
crowded  to  that  side  of  the  ship  next  to  them,  and  stood  in 
silent  sorrow,  gazing  fondly  on  the  dear  spot  they  were  never 
more  to  behold.  How  differently  did  the  same  sight  affect 
them  and  me?  What  chilled  my  blood  and  disgusted  my  eye, 
filled  their  bosoms  and  warmed  their  hearts  with  the  fondest, 
the  most  tender  sensations,  while  sweet  remembrance  rushed 
on  their  minds  and  melted  the  roughest  into  tears  of  tender- 
ness. The  rude  scene  before  us,  with  its  wild  rocks  and  snow- 

*  At  this  point  the  route  of  the  vessel  is  obscured  by  Miss  Schaw's  confu- 
sion of  the  Orkney  and  Shetland  Islands.  The  islands  they  had  "just  passed" 
were  not  the  Shetlands  but  the  Orkneys,  from  one  of  which  the  Lawsons 
and  others  must  have  come.  Miss  Schaw  could  not  have  seen  the  Shetlands 
at  all,  for  the  next  land,  which  the  vessel  must  have  passed  on  the  south 
side,  was  the  Fair  Isle,  a  small  island  three  miles  long  and  two  broad,  lying 
midway  between  the  two  larger  groups.  The  "safe  basin"  referred  to  was  the 
only  harbor  that  the  island  possessed,  a  shallow  indentation  on  the  eastern 
side,  rarely,  if  ever,  frequented  by  ships.  All  habitations  were  on  the  south, 
so  that  in  watching  what  was  going  on  Miss  Schaw  stood  at  the  rail  facing 
north.  An  excellent  map  and  description  of  this  Fair  Isle  may  be  found  in 
Tudor,  The  Orkneys  and  Shetland,  ch.  xxxiii. 


34       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

cover' d  mountains,  was  dear  to  them,  far  more  dear  than  the 
most  fertile  plains  will  ever  appear.  It  was  their  native  land, 
and  how  much  is  contained  in  that  short  Sentence,  none  but 
those  who  have  parted  with  their  own  can  be  judge  of. 
Many,  whom  I  now  beheld,  had  passed  year  after  year  in 
peace  and  sweet  contentment;  they  wished,  they  imagined 
nothing  beyond  what  it  afforded,  and  their  gray  hairs  seemed 
a  security  that  they  should  mingle  their  dust  with  that  of 
their  fathers,  when  the  cruel  hand  of  oppression  seized  on 
their  helpless  age,  and  forced  them  (at  that  late  season)  to 
seek  a  foreign  grave  across  the  stormy  main. 

Hard-hearted,  little  Tyrant  of  yonder  rough  domains, 
could  you  have  remained  unmoved,  had  you  beheld  the  vic- 
tims of  your  avarice,  as  I  have  done,  with  souls  free  from 
guilt,  yet  suffering  all  the  pangs  of  banished  villians;  oh! 
had  you  seen  them,  their  hands  clasped  in  silent  and  unutter- 
able anguish,  their  streaming  eyes  raised  to  heaven  in  mute 
ejaculations,  calling  down  blessings,  and  pouring  the  last 
benedictions  of  a  broken  heart  on  the  dear  soil  that  gave 
them  being;  perhaps  even  a  prayer  for  the  cruel  Author  of 
all  their  woes*  mixed  in  this  pious  moment.  Lord  require  not 
our  blood  at  his  hands,  he  is  the  descendent  of  our  honoured, 
our  loved  Master,  the  son  of  him  I  followed  to  the  field  of 
Fame  in  my  happy  youthful  days,  of  that  loved  Lord,  who 
diffused  peace,  plenty  and  content  around  him.  The  eager 
eye  now  went  forth  in  search  of  particular  spots  marked  by 
more  tender  remembrance;  there  a  loved  wife  reared  with 
fond  maternal  pride  a  blooming  offspring.  "Yonder  is  my 
paternal  cottage,  where  my  chearful  youthful  hours  were 
passed  in  sweet  contentment.  Ah !  little  then  did  I  think  of 
braving  the  wide  Atlantick,  or  of  seeking  precarious  bitter 
bread  in  a  foreign  land." 

*  We  have  been  unable  to  identify  the  "cruel  Author  of  all  their  woes," 
though  the  reference  seems  very  specific  and  the  charge  is  directed  against 
a  very  definite  and  seemingly  prominent  person. 


35 


In  this  general  group  of  Sorrow,  there  was  one  figure  that 
more  particularly  engaged  my  attention.  It  was  that  of  a 
female,  who  supported  with  one  arm,  an  Infant  about  a 
month  old,  which  she  suckled  at  her  breast;  her  head  rested 
on  the  other,  and  her  hand  shaded  her  face,  while  the  tears 
that  streamed  from  under  it  bedewed  her  breast  and  the  face 
of  the  Infant,  who  was  endeavouring  to  draw  a  scanty  nour- 
ishment from  it.  At  her  knee  hung  a  little  Cherub  about  two 
years  old,  who  looked  smiling  up  into  her  face,  as  if  courting 
her  notice,  and  endeavouring  to  draw  her  from  her  melan- 
choly Reflexions;  while  a  most  beautiful  little  girl  about 
eight  years  old  stood  by,  and  wept  at  the  sight  of  her 
Mother's  tears.  I  wished  for  Miss  Forbes,  with  her  pencil 
of  Sensibility,  to  have  done  justice  to  this  group  of  heart- 
affecting  figures.  I  longed  to  address  the  Mother,  but  there 
is  a  dignity  in  Sorrow  and  I  durst  not  intrude,  but  respect- 
fully waited,  till  she  gave  me  an  opportunity.  In  a  few 
minutes  she  raised  her  head  from  her  hand  and  shewed  me  a 
face  that  had  once  been  beautiful,  was  still  lovely,  but  had  a 
broken  heart  impressed  on  every  feature.  When  she  observed 
me  looking  at  her,  she  stood  up  and  courtesied.  I  returned 
her  civility  and  moved  towards  her.  "You  are  from  one  of 
these  Islands,"  said  I,  "Yes,  madam,"  returned  she,  "from 
that  one  we  have  just  past."  She  looked  abashed,  and  added 
with  a  heart-breaking  smile,  "You,  no  doubt,  wondered  to 
see  me  so  much  affected,  but  I  was  just  then  within  view  of 
my  fathers  house,  he  is  the  best  of  men  as  well  as  fathers,  and 
I  could  not  help  thinking  that  perhaps,  at  that  moment,  he 
was  pouring  out  his  aged  soul  in  prayers,  for  a  lost  and 
darling  daughter";  but  her  words  were  choaked;  something 
too  seemed  to  choak  myself;  so  I  relieved  both  by  speaking 
to  her  of  her  children,  who  are  indeed  extremely  lovely.  She 
told  me,  two  were  left  with  her  father,  and  that  she  had  one 
more  on  board.  Just  then  a  neat  pretty  girl  about  eighteen 


36       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

came  up  to  take  the  child.  "Is  that  your  daughter?"  said  I, 
"No,  madam,"  returned  she,  "that  is  an  orphan  niece  of  my 
husband,  whom,  in  better  days,  he  bred  with  a  father's  fond- 
ness. The  poor  child  had  no  occasion  to  leave  her  own  coun- 
try. Many  of  her  friends  would  gladly  have  taken  her,  but 
she  would  not  leave  us  in  our  misery."  I  looked  at  Marion, 
for  so  she  is  called.  I  thought  I  never  beheld  any  thing  so 
beautiful.  I  wish  to  learn  the  history  of  this  woman,  which 
I  will  easily  do,  as  they  all  know  each  other.  I  hope  it  will 
prove  worth  your  reading  and  will  give  it  a  letter  by  itself. 
Tho'  it  be  a  hundred  to  one  you  never  see  these  letters,  yet 
as  they  give  an  idea  of  conversing  with  you,  they  afford 
myself  infinite  satisfaction. 

Pity,  thou  darling  daughter  of  the  skies,  what  a  change 
do  you  produce  in  the  hearts  where  you  vouchsafe  to  enter; 
from  thee  the  fairest  social  virtues  derive  their  being;  it  is 
you  who  melt,  soften  and  humanize  the  soul,  raising  the  man 
into  a  God.  Before  the  brightness  of  thy  heavenly  counte- 
nance every  dirty  passion  disappears — pride,  avarice,  self- 
love,  caution,  doubt,  disdain,  with  all  which  claim  Dame 
Prudence  for  their  mother;  and  how  different  a  set  appears 
in  thy  train,  those  gently-smiling  Goddess-charity,  meekness, 
gentle  tenderness  with  unaffected  kindness.  What  a  change 
has  she  wrought  on  me  since  my  last  visit  to  the  deck.  Where 
are  now  the  Cargo  of  Yahoos'?  they  are  transformed  into  a 
Company  of  most  respectable  sufferers,  whom  it  is  both  my 
duty  and  inclination  to  comfort,  and  do  all  in  my  power  to 
alleviate  their  misfortunes,  which  have  not  sprung  from  their 
guilt  or  folly,  but  from  the  guilt  and  folly  of  others. 

I  have  made  many  friendships  since  these  last  two  days, 
and  was  not  a  little  vain,  on  my  coming  on  deck  this  morn- 
ing, to  hear  the  children  with  infantine  joy,  call  to  each 
other:  "O  there  come  the  Ladies."  We. rewarded  their  affec- 
tion with  some  apples,  which  we  gave  the  young  Rutherfurds 
to  bestow,  a  task  which,  they  declared,  afforded  them  more 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         37 

pleasure  than  the  best  apple-pye  would  have  given  them.  I 
find  the  woman  I  formerly  mentioned  is  considered  as  supe- 
rior to  the  rest  of  the  company,  and  what  is  not  always  an 
effect  of  superiority,  she  is  greatly  esteemed  by  them.  I  was 
at  no  loss  to  obtain  her  history,  as  every  one  seemed  willing 
to  do  justice  to  her  miseries  and  misfortunes. 

Mr  and  Mrs  Lawson,  (for  so  they  are  called  while  the  rest 
are  only  called  John  or  Marg1),  were,  till  lately,  in  very 
affluent  circumstances.  He  rented  a  considerable  farm,  which 
had  descended  in  a  succession  from  father  to  son,  for  many 
generations,  and  under  many  masters.  He  had  also  become 
proprietor  of  a  piece  of  ground,  on  which  he  had  built  a  neat 
house,  and  was  thought  a  good  match  for  Marg*  Young,  the 
daughter  of  a  neighbouring  Farmer,  more  remarkable  for  his 
learning  and  respectable  for  his  many  virtues,  than  for  his 
herds  or  flocks.  The  term  of  Lawson' s  Lease  being  out  some- 
time ago,  advantage  was  taken  of  the  strong  attachment  he 
had  for  what  he  considered  his  natural  inheritance;  and  his 
rent  raised  far  beyond  what  it  could  ever  produce.  He  strug- 
gled hard  for  some  time,  but  all  his  industry  proving  vain, 
he  was  forced  to  give  up  his  all  to  the  unrelenting  hand  of 
oppression;  and  [to  see]  the  lovely  family,  I  have  been  so 
much  admiring,  turned  out  to  the  mercy  of  the  winter  winds. 
While  I  listened  to  this  melancholy  story,  many  of  the  Emi- 
grants joined  the  person  who  was  relating  it,  and  added  cir- 
cumstances with  which  their  own  sad  fate  was  connected; 
all,  however,  composed  a  tale  of  wo,  flowing  from  the  same 
source,  Viz1  the  avarice  and  folly  of  their  thoughtless 
masters. 

I  shall  finish  this  account  by  a  few  circumstances  regard- 
ing poor  Mrs  Lawson  particularly,  who  is,  it  seems,  the  only 
surviving  child  of  her  fond  parent,  her  two  brothers  having 
been  killed  [in  the]  last  war  in  America.*  It  is  needless  to 

*  By  the  "last  war  in  America"  probably  the  French  and  Indian  War  is 
meant. 


38       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

make  any  comment  on  the  conduct  of  our  highland  and 
Island  proprietors.  It  is  self-evident,  what  consequences  must 
be  produced  in  time  from  such  Numbers  of  Subjects  being 
driven  from  the  country.  Should  levys  be  again  necessary, 
the  recruiting  drum  may  long  be  at  a  loss  to  procure  such 
soldiers  as  are  now  aboard  this  Vessel,  lost  to  their  country 
for  ever,  brave  fellows,  who  tho'  now  flying  from  their 
friends,  would  never  have  fled  from  their  foes.  I  have  just 
seen  Lawson,  he  is  a  well  looking  fellow,  between  forty  and 
fifty,  has  a  bold,  manly,  weather-beaten  countenance,  with 
an  eye  that  fears  to  look  no  man  in  the  face,  yet  I  saw  it 
glisten,  when  I  complimented  him  on  the  beauty  of  his 
family.  "Yes,  Madam,"  said  he,  "they  deserved  a  more  for- 
tunate father,"  turning  abruptly  away  to  hide  a  tear,  which 
did  him  no  discredit,  in  my  opinion. 

I  am  just  now  summoned  to  the  deck  to  take  a  view  of  the 
Fair  Isle.  For  what  reason  it  bears  so  pretty  a  name  I  cannot 
guess,  for  I  expect  little  beauty  in  these  Seas. 

The  Fair  Isle,  which  we  passed  yesterday,  is  the  last  land 
which  belongs  to  Scotland,  and  has  indeed  as  little  beauty 
as  I  expected.  The  side  that  lay  next  us,  is  one  continued 
chain  of  perpendicular  rugged  Rocks,  and  in  many  places  the 
upper  parts  hang  over,  so  that  a  ship  that  was  to  be  driven 
against  them,  would  have  very  little  chance  of  Salvation. 
I  observed  almost  in  the  centre  of  the  Island  however,  a  very 
safe  Bason,  which  would  admit  tolerable  large  Vessels,  and 
very  convenient  for  boats  to  land  from,  and  I  should  think 
it  a  snug  place  to  carry  on  a  contraband  trade.  Yet  I  dont 
find  any  such  use  made  of  it,  the  inhabitants  living  entirely 
on  what  the  Island  affords,  together  with  a  little  trade  for 
provisions,  which,  ships  who  are  passing  purchase  of  them. 
It  was  peopled  many  years  ago  from  Denmark,  and  has  kept 
so  clear  of  foreign  connection,  that  they  still  retain  their 
looks,  their  manners  and  their  dress,  and  tho',  in  their  inter- 
course with  strangers,  a  bad  sort  of  English  is  spoken  by  the 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         39 

men,  yet,  on  the  Island,  nothing  is  spoken  but  their  original 
language.  Within  our  view  was  one  very  well-looking  house, 
which,  we  were  told,  belongs  to  the  proprietor  of  the  Island ; 
and  at  a  little  distance,  a  town  composed  of  hutts  with  a 
church.  I  observed  several  stack-yards,  but  neither  a  tree  nor 
a  shrub. 

I  have  been  the  more  particular  as  to  this  Island,  as  I  do 
not  recollect  ever  to  have  read  any  description  of  it,  or  in- 
deed even  heard  of  it,  till  the  Captain  advised  me  to  trust  to 
it  for  Sea-Stock,  as  an  inducement  to  us  to  go  north  about, 
which,  however  at  that  time,  we  refused  to  do.  He  assured 
me,  we  would  get  poultry  of  all  kinds  extremely  cheap,  also 
eggs,  fine  dried  fish  and  the  best  Cabbages,  in  the  world.  By 
the  time  we  came  on  deck,  he  had  hung  out  his  flag  and  was 
plying  off  and  on  in  the  offing.  The  Sea  was  at  that  time 
running  high,  and  it  had  begun  to  blow  pretty  fresh.  I  felt 
myself  very  uneasy  for  the  boats,  which,  they  told  us,  were 
extremely  small.  The  signal  was  not  out  above  a  quarter  of 
an  hour,  when  we  observed  the  shore  full  of  people  of  both 
sexes,  who  were  scrambling  amongst  the  rocks,  when  pres- 
ently they  seemed  to  part,  as  if  by  consent,  the  one  half 
making  towards  the  town,  while  the  other  descended  to  the 
bason  I  formerly  mentioned;  and  we  soon  saw  them  dis- 
tinctly launch  a  number  of  boats,  and  put  out  on  this  rough 
Sea,  a  sight  which  greatly  encreased  my  Anxiety.  But  as  they 
came  nearer,  I  was  much  pleased  with  the  lightness  with 
which  they  bounded  over  the  waves.  They  are  indeed  light, 
pretty,  neat  Vessels,  all  extremely  clean,  and  painted  with 
various  colours.  They  were  each  manned  with  four  rowers 
and  are  long  and  narrow.  I  fancy  they  resemble  Indian 
canoes,  but  appear  extremely  proper  for  these  Seas.  A  num- 
ber of  them  arrived  safe  at  our  ship,  in  a  few  Moments  after 
they  put  off  from  the  shore,  and  no  sooner  got  along  side  the 
Vessel,  than  three  of  them  quitted  every  boat — the  fourth 
remained  to  take  charge  of  her — and  bearing  their  merchan- 


40       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

dize  in  their  arms,  were  aboard  in  a  moment.  The  novelty 
of  their  appearance  greatly  amused  me.  They  are  entirely 
different  from  the  Inhabitants  of  Scotland  in  general,  and 
even  from  those  of  the  Islands  that  lay  next  them;  they  are 
of  a  middling  Stature,  strong  built  and  straight,  their  com- 
plexions uncommonly  fair,  their  skins  remarkably  smooth, 
their  features  high,  aquiline  noses  and  small  eyes.  Their  hair 
is  not  red  but  real  yellow,  and  the  older  ones  wore  it  long  on 
the  bottom  of  the  chin,  which  is  very  peaked.  They  wore  red 
caps  lined  with  skin  and  Jackets  of  the  same  with  a  Paulice 
[pelisse]  of  coarse  cloth  and  boots  of  undressed  skin,  with 
the  rough  side  outmost,  over  which  were  trousers  made  of 
cloth.  They  are  very  active  and  their  figures  tho'  uncouth, 
are  by  no  means  disagreeable. 

This  fleet,  however,  brought  us  no  provisions,  but  were 
loaded  with  the  Island  manufactures :  such  as  knit  caps,  mit- 
tens, stockings,  and  the  softest  coarse  cloth  I  ever  saw  made 
of  wool.  They  informed  us  that  the  people  we  saw  making 
to  the  town  were  gone  for  provisions,  with  which  they  would 
load  their  boats  and  be  with  us  presently,  that  the  best  hen 
and  duck  was  sold  at  four  pence,  a  goose  for  sixpence, 
Chickens  in  proportion,  eggs  eighteen  for  a  penny  and  plenty 
of  Cabbage  to  boot.  This  was  a  most  agreeable  account ;  and 
while  those  concerned  were  settling  their  bargains,  which 
was  not  to  be  done  without  much  haggling,  Fanny,  my 
brother  and  I  leaned  over  the  side  of  the  Vessell,  diverting 
ourselves  with  the  motions  of  this  second  fleet,  which  made 
towards  us  with  surprizing  celerity.  While  we  were  thus  en- 
gaged and  thinking  all  was  peace  and  kindness  round  us,  the 
cry  of  "Murder,  help,  murder,"  made  us  turn  suddenly  round. 
Nor  can  I  describe  what  were  our  sensations,  when  we  beheld 
our  Captain,  Supercargo  and  even  some  of  the  sailors  binding 
one  of  the  Islanders  to  the  mast  and  stripping  off  his  cloths. 
The  poor  creature  applied  to  us  for  protection,  which  he 
would  have  instantly  got,  had  not  my  Brother's  attention 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         41 

been  called  off  to  an  object  that  more  immediately  engaged 
his  humanity.  This  was  one  of  the  boats,  which  with  a  single 
rower  on  board,  had  got  under  the  stern  of  our  ship.  The  sea 
was  so  rough,  that  the  motion  of  the  Vessel  was  very  violent, 
and  she  must  have  been  dashed  to  pieces  and  the  poor  lad 
drowned,  had  not  my  brother  flown  to  his  assistance,  part 
of  the  crew  who  had  not  joined  the  Captain  and  all  the  Emi- 
grants engaging  in  this  humane  labour.  The  young  man  was 
saved,  tho'  the  boat  was  all  broke  to  pieces.  As  soon  as  they 
had  got  him  safely  on  board,  my  brother  turned  sternly  to 
the  Captain  and  demanded  the  meaning  of  this  outrage.  "Oh 
D — n  them,"  cried  the  Captain,  "they  know  well  enough." 
"Oh,  your  honour,"  cried  the  poor  wretch  frighted  to  death, 
"we  never  did  him  any  harm,  we  did  all  we  could  to  save  his 
Ship  and  Cargo."  This  brought  out  a  secret;  and  we  now 
found,  that,  some  months  before  this,  our  Captain  had  lost  a 
ship  on  the  frightful  coast,  I  have  been  just  describing.  He 
could  not  deny  they  had  used  their  utmost  endeavours  to 
serve  him  on  that  occasion ;  but  that  he  had  lost  a  chest  which 
contained  sundry  articles  and  which  he  supposed  was  stolen, 
and  was  determined  to  have  it  back.  And  this  noble  motive, 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  was  the  reason  we  have  been 
brought  round  this  dangerous  and  shocking  navigation.  This 
account,  however,  added  stronger  reasons  still  for  my 
brother's  interesting  himself  to  obtain  them  good  treatment, 
that  of  some  future  Vessel,  perhaps,  having  a  like  fate,  when 
it  was  not  to  be  doubted,  but  these  people  would  remember 
the  reward  they  had  from  our  grateful  and  humane  Captain. 
He  therefore  assumed  such  an  air  of  Authority  as  awed  our 
commander  into  compliance.  He  let  fall  the  rope's  end,  un- 
bound the  Victim  of  his  resentment,  and  released  those  he 
had  made  prisoners  below,  who  were  now  permitted  to  return 
to  their  boats,  but  unfortunately  for  us,  had  time  enough  to 
give  a  scream  of  caution  to  their  friends,  who  were  now  just 
at  hand,  and,  who  understanding  the  signal,  instantly  turned 


42       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  rowed  back  to  the  shore  as  fast  as  they  were  able.  And 
here  ended  our  last  Scotch  adventure,  with  every  hope  of 
adding  to  our  stock  of  provisions,  which  luckily,  however,  is 
sufficiently  large  to  last  us  till  we  reach  Antigua,  which  will 
now  be  the  first  land  we  will  see.  Adieu  then,  thou  dear, 
loved  native  land.  In  vain  am  I  told  of  finer  Climates,  or  of 
richer  soils,  none  will  ever  equal  Scotland  in  my  estimation. 
And  in  the  midst  of  all  the  luxuries  of  the  western  world,  I 
will  envy  the  Cottager  in  his  snow-surrounded  hamlet.  The 
wind  encreases  very  fast,  we  will  not  have  the  prayers  of  the 
fair  Islanders. 

We  have  had  a  very  blowing  night,  and  my  poor  brother 
is  ready  to  die  with  sickness.  He  begins  to  lose  his  colour,  and 
I  fear  much  this  constant  straining  at  his  stomach  will  bring 
on  some  serious  illness.  Fanny,  thank  God,  is  now  quite  well, 
and  bears  every  thing  without  repining;  that  is  indeed  the 
sole  employment  of  Abigail  and  we  leave  it  entirely  to  her. 
I  was  set  this  morning  very  gingerly  by  the  fire-side  in  an 
elbow  chair  I  had  made  lash  to  for  me  close  by  the  Cabin 
Stove,  with  my  back  to  the  door.  I  had  taken  up  a  book  and 
was  reading  as  composedly  as  if  sitting  in  my  closet.  I  did  not 
however  enjoy  this  calm  situation  long,  for  presently  I  heard 
a  rumbling  just  behind  me.  This  I  took  for  a  barrell  of  spoilt 
Callavans  pease,  which  made  part  of  the  ship's  provision, 
but  which  no  body  would  eat,  and  it  was  an  amusement  to 
kick  them  over,  two  or  three  times  a  day,  but  what  was  my 
surprize,  when  the  Cabin-door  burst  open  and  I  was  over- 
whelmed with  an  immense  wave,  which  broke  my  chair  from 
its  moorings,  floated  every  thing  in  the  Cabin,  and  I  found 
myself  swiming  amongst  joint-stools,  chests,  Tables  and 
all  the  various  furniture  of  our  parlour.  Fanny  escaped  this 
and  has  laughed  heartily  at  me,  but  I  fancy  we  will  all  have 
our  share  before  the  Voyage  be  over.  It  Blows  harder  and 
harder,  the  shrouds  make  a  terrible  rattling,  it  is  a  horrid 
sound.  Oh  Lord!  here  comes  the  Captain,  who  tells  us  the 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         43 

dead  lights*  must  be  put  up.  I  know  the  meaning  of  the 
word  and  yet  it  makes  me  shudder.  He  says,  he  expects  a 
hard  gale,  I  suppose  he  means  this,  a  soft  word  for  a  hard 
storm.  Very  well,  Winds,  blow  till  ye  burst.  I  know  the  same 
protecting  providence  which  rules  at  land,  commands  at  Sea. 
Thou  great,  infinite,  omnipotent  Creator,  who  formed  by  thy 
word  this  vast,  this  awful  profound,  into  thy  hands  I  commit 
myself  and  those  dearest  to  me.  If  death  is  to  be  our  fate, 
afford  us  the  necessary  fortitude  to  support  thy  awful  sen- 
tence. But  be  it  life  or  be  it  death,  thy  will  be  done. 

Thank  God,  the  storm  is  at  last  subsided, f  and  tho'  the  sea 
still  looks  frowningly,  yet  it  does  not  wear  the  same  face  of 
horror  it  lately  did.  Beautiful  and  Emphatick  is  that  expres- 
sion of  the  Psalmist,  "Those  who  go  down  to  the  great 
waters  see  thy  wonders  and  on  the  deep  behold  thy  mighty 
works,  awfully  magnificent  indeed  they  appear." 

Where  wave  on  wave  and  gulph  on  gulph 
O'ercomes  the  pilots  art. 

I  wou'd  willingly  give  you  a  description  of  the  horrors  we 
have  sustained  for  these  ten  or  twelve  days  past,  but  tho' 
they  made  a  sufficient  impression  on  my  own  mind,  never  to 
be  forgot,  yet  I  despair  of  finding  words  to  convey  a  proper 
idea  of  them  to  you.  You  remember  I  gave  over  writing,  just 
as  the  Carpenter  came  in  to  put  up  the  dead  Lights,  and  a 
more  dreary  operation  cannot  be  conceived ;  my  heart,  at  that 
moment,  seemed  to  bid  farewell  to  Sun,  Moon  and  Stars. 
But  I  now  know  one  God  commands  at  Sea  and  at  Land, 
whose  omnipotence  is  extended  over  every  element.  I  praise 
him  for  his  Mercys  past,  and  humbly  hope  for  more. 

The  dead  lights  were  no  sooner  up  and  a  candle  made  fast 
to  the  table,  by  many  a  knot  and  twist  of  small  cord,  than  my 

*  Dead  lights  were  the  heavy  double  windows  or  shutters  put  up  outside 
the  cabin  windows  to  keep  out  the  water  in  case  of  a  storm. 
t  Twelve  days  have  passed. 


44       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

young  companion  took  up  a  book,  and  very  composedly 
began  to  read  to  herself.  I  begged  her  to  let  me  share  her 
amusement  by  reading  aloud.  This  she  instantly  complied 
with.  She  had  however  taken  up  the  first  book  that  came  to 
hand,  which  happened  not  to  be  very  apropos  to  the  present 
occasion,  as  it  proved  to  be  Lord  Kaims's  Elements  of  Criti- 
cism.* She  read  on  however  and  I  listened  with  much  seem- 
ing attention,  tho'  neither  she  nor  I  knew  a  word  it  con- 
tained. And  by  this  you  may  guess  at  our  feelings  during  that 
time,  which  were  indeed  too  confusedly  felt  by  ourselves  to 
be  very  accurately  described.  The  storm  roared  over  and 
around  us,  the  Candle  cast  a  melancholy  gleam  across  the 
Cabin,  which  we  now  considered  as  our  tomb.  We  did  not, 
however,  assist  each  other's  distress,  for  neither  of  us  men- 
tioned our  own.  During  this  time,  all  was  in  the  utmost  hurry 
and  confusion  on  deck.  The  melancholy  sound  of  the  Sailors 
pulling  with  united  strength  at  the  ropes,  the  rattling  of  the 
sails  and  every  thing  "joined  to  render  the  fearful  scene  more 
frightful.  My  brother  was  still  obliged  to  keep  on  deck  and 
brave  the  fury  of  the  waves  that  now  came  continually 
aboard,  and  was  every  moment  in  danger  of  washing  off  our 
people. 

*  The  reference  is  to  Lord  Kames's  Elements  of  Criticism,  three  volumes, 
Edinburgh,  1762.  There  was  a  third  edition  with  additions,  published  in 
1765,  in  two  volumes.  An  American  edition  in  one  volume  was  issued  in  1871. 
Henry  Home,  Lord  Kames,  was  a  judge  of  the  court  of  sessions  in  Scotland, 
who  died  in  1782.  He  was  a  well-known  barrister,  judge,  and  writer,  who 
tried  several  cases  in  which  some  of  those  who  emigrated  to  North  Carolina 
— James  Hogg,  for  example — were  plaintiffs.  There  is  a  good  account  of 
him  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  and  records  of  cases  tried  be- 
fore him  can  be  found  in  the  Scots  Magazine.  Boswell,  in  recording  Dr. 
Johnson's  prejudices  against  Scotland,  cites  his  opinion  of  Kames.  "But  Sir," 
said  Boswell,  "we  have  Lord  Kames."  "You  have  Lord  Kames"  (replied 
Johnson),  "keep  him,  ha,  ha,  ha!  We  don't  envy  you  him"  (Boswell's  Life, 

11,54). 

The  books  in  the  cabin  were  brought  on  board  by  Alexander  Schaw  for 
the  use  of  the  party.  They  were  left  at  St.  Christopher  on  his  departure  from 
that  island  in  January,  1775,  but  whether  afterwards  recovered  or  not  we 
cannot  say.  Alexander  Schaw's  will  (1810)  mentions  books  among  his  pos- 
sessions. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          45 

We  did  not  continue  above  an  hour  in  this  dreary  situa- 
tion, tho'  to  us  it  appeared  many,  when  the  Captain  came 
down  and  entering  the  Cabin  with  a  chearful  and  assured 
countenance,  congratulated  himself  and  us  on  the  fine  breeze 
which  was  carrying  us  ten  knotts  an  hour,  and  so  elated  was 
he  with  his  good  fortune,  that  tho'  no  singer,  he  could  not 
help  concluding  with  a  favourite  ballad  of  "How  happy  are 
we  when  the  winds  blow  abaft."  Tho'  this  was  mere  affecta- 
tion in  him,  it  had  an  immediate  effect  on  our  Spirits;  our 
terror  vanished  in  a  moment,  and  we  laughed  at  our  own 
fears.  It  was  now  we  discovered  we  were  meeting  death,  like 
philosophers  not  Christians :  with  a  Lord  Kaims  in  our  hands  \J 
in  place  of  a  Bible.  This  imaginary  calm  did  not,  however, 
last  long.  As  the  evening  advanced,  the  storm  gathered 
strength,  and  not  only  encreased  all  that  night,  but  all  next 
day.  The  Sea  was  now  running  mountain  high,  and  the 
waves  so  outrageous,  that  they  came  aboard  like  a  deluge; 
and  rushing  from  side  to  side  of  the  Vessel,  generally  made 
their  way  into  the  Cabin,  and  from  thence  into  the  state- 
room, which  was  often  so  full  of  water  as  almost  to  reach  us 
in  our  beds.  Poor  Mary  had  now  real  cause  to  complain,  as 
she  was  actually  very  near  drowned  while  asleep,  and  could 
no  longer  ly  in  the  state  room  but  was  forced  to  peg  in  with 
the  boys  who  could  easily  let  her  share  with  them,  fear  and 
curiosity  never  suffering  them  to  be  in  bed  above  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  at  a  time.  But  disagreeable  as  you  will  think  our 
present  situation,  it  was  no  more  than  a  prelude  to  what 
followed.  As  we  were  constantly  assured  there  was  no 
danger,  we  made  ourselves  as  easy  as  we  could. 

On  the  second  day  of  this  breeze  (as  it  was  still  termed) 
the  joyful  cry,  "a  sail,  a  sail,"  made  us  run  on  deck,  regard- 
less of  the  Weather,  to  see  at  a  distance,  a  thing  which  con- 
tained within  its  wooden  sides,  some  fellow-creatures,  and 
tho'  these  were  to  us  unknown,  it  is  impossible  to  describe 
the  pleasure  every  one  felt  on  looking  at  her.  She  came 


46       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

within  hail  of  us  and  proved  to  be  a  brig  from  Liverpool 
loaded  with  merchant  goods  for  Philadelphia;  her  figure 
shewed  the  nation  she  was  from,  neat,  clean  and  lightly 
loaded.  She  seemed  to  rise  above  the  waves,  yet  notwith- 
standing these  advantages  over  our  poor  heavy  hulk,  she  had 
her  dead  lights  up  also,  and  dipt  them  so  often  under  the 
water,  that  it  shewed  us  plainly  the  necessity  there  was  for 
this  precaution.  As  our  course  was  different,  we  soon  parted, 
and  every  heart  felt  a  pang  at  losing  sight  of  a  ship  we  knew 
nothing  of  and  being  separated  from  people  with  whom  we 
had  no  concern.  Man  is  certainly  by  nature  a  kindly  Social 
animal.  The  law  of  affection  was  planted  in  his  breast  for 
the  best  of  purposes.  The  depravity  of  Individuals  makes  us 
on  our  guard  amidst  a  populous  world,  and,  indeed,  has 
rendered  caution  so  necessary,  that  it  has  cooled  the  best 
propensities  of  the  heart  and  obliged  us  to  set  a  guard  on  our 
feelings,  least  they  betray  us  into  kindness.  But  no  sooner  are 
we  divided  from  our  natural  associates  than  humanity  re- 
gains its  superiority ;  we  forget  their  faults ;  we  love  them  as 
brethren  and  all  our  philanthropy  instantly  returns.  To  this 
I  attribute  the  benevolence,  sincerity  and  warm  hearts  we 
generally  meet  with  in  Sailors.  They  have  no  use  of  Pru- 
dence on  board  and  scorn  to  make  up  an  acquaintance  with 
such  an  old  mercenary  Jade  ashore,  and  tho'  being  strangers 
to  her  often  hurts  their  purses  and  still  oftener  their  health 
they  never  mind  that. 

A  light  heart  and  a  thin  pair  of  breeches 
Goes  round  the  wide  world,  brave  boys. 

It  was  now  about  fifty  hours  the  wind  had  been  very 
high,  tho'  not  dangerous.  The  sailors,  however,  began  to 
complain  heavily  of  their  hard  duty;  besides,  many  things 
about  the  Vessel  were  beginning  to  give  way :  the  ropes  par- 
ticularly, (which  were  not  originally  good,)  were  rendered 
so  slight  by  the  constant  rain,  that  they  every  moment  snapt 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         47 

in  the  working,  by  which  means  the  Ship  underwent  such 
sudden  and  violent  evolutions,  that  we  were  often  thrown  off 
our  seats.  This  forced  us  to  ly  abed  nor  were  we  even  safe 
there  from  its  effects. 

The  rains  continued,  and  the  winds  seemed  to  gain  new 
strength  from  a  circumstance  that,  in  general,  calms  them. 
The  sailors' s  hands  were  torn  to  pieces  by  pulling  at  the  wet 
ropes.  Their  stock  of  Jackets  were  all  wet,  nor  was  there  a 
possibility  of  getting  them  dried,  as  the  Steerage  was  quite 
full  of  the  Emigrants  and  hard  loading;  a  piece  of  inhuman- 
ity, that  I  do  not  believe  even  Avarice  ever  equalled  in  any 
other  owner.  However  our  honest  Johns  did  their  best  to 
keep  a  good  heart,  and  weather  out  the  gale.  And  when  the 
wind  would  permit  us  to  hear  them,  we  were  still  serenaded 
with  true  love-garlands,  and  histories  of  faithful  sailors  and 
kind-hearted  lasses.  But  on  the  fourth  evening  of  the  gale 
(as  it  was  now  termed)  the  whole  elements  seemed  at  war: 
horror,  ruin  and  confusion  raged  thro'  our  unfortunate 
wooden  kingdom,  and  made  the  stoutest  heart  despair  of 
safety. 

Just  after  the  midnight  watch  was  set,  it  began  to  blow  in 
such  a  manner,  as  made  all  that  had  gone  before  seem  only 
a  summer  breeze.  All  hands,  (a  fearful  sound)  were  now 
called ;  not  only  the  Crew,  but  every  man  who  could  assist  in 
this  dreadful  emergency.  Every  body  was  on  deck,  but  my 
young  friend  and  myself,  who  sat  up  in  bed,  patiently  wait- 
ing that  fate,  we  sincerely  believed  unavoidable.  The  waves 
poured  into  the  state-room,  like  a  deluge,  often  wetting  our 
bed-cloths,  as  they  burst  over  the  half  door.  The  Vessel 
which  was  one  moment  mounted  to  the  clouds  and  whirled 
on  the  pointed  wave,  descended  with  such  violence,  as  made 
her  tremble  for  half  a  minute  with  the  shock,  and  it  appears 
to  me  wonderful  how  her  planks  stuck  together,  considering 
how  heavy  she  was  loaded,  Nine  hogsheads  of  water  which 
were  lashed  on  the  deck  gave  way,  and  broke  from  their 


48       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Moorings,  and  falling  backwards  and  forwards  over  our 
heads,  at  last  went  over  board  with  a  dreadful  noise.  Our 
hen-coops  with  all  our  poultry  soon  followed,  as  did  the  Cab- 
house  or  kitchen,  and  with  it  all  our  cooking-utensils,  to- 
gether with  a  barrel  of  fine  pickled  tongues  and  above  a 
dozen  hams.  We  heard  our  sails  fluttering  into  rags.  The 
helm  no  longer  was  able  to  command  the  Vessel,  tho'  four 
men  were  lash'd  to  it,  to  steer  her.  We  were  therefore  re- 
signed to  the  mercy  of  the  winds  and  waves.  At  last  we  heard 
our  fore  main  mast  split  from  top  to  bottom,  a  sound  that 
might  have  appaled  more  experienced  Mariners,  but  we 
heard  all  in  Silence,  never  once  opening  our  lips  thro'  the 
whole  tremendous  scene : 

"At  last  from  all  these  horrors,  Lord, 
Thy  mercy  set  us  free, 
While  in  the  confidence  of  prayer, 
Our  Souls  laid  hold  on  thee." 

About  seven  in  the  morning,  my  Brother,  the  Capt  and  our 
young  men  came  down  to  us.  They  too  had  been  on  deck  all 
night,  fear  not  suffering  them  to  stay  below.  Jack  had  be- 
haved thro'  the  whole  with  great  fortitude,  but  poor  Billie, 
who  is  scarcely  ten  years  old,  had  been  sadly  frighted,  and 
could  not  refrain  from  crying.  "Why,  you  little  fool,"  said 
my  brother  to  him,  "what  the  duce  do  you  cry  for;  you  are  a 
good  boy,  if  you  are  drowned,  you  will  go  to  heaven,  which 
is  a  much  finer  place  than  Carolina."  "Yes,  uncle,"  returned 
he  sobbing,  "Yes,  Uncle,  I  know  if  I  had  died  at  land,  I 
would  have  gone  to  Heaven,  but  the  thing  that  vexes  me  is, 
if  I  go  to  the  bottom  of  this  terrible  sea,  God  will  never  be 
able  to  get  me  up ;  the  fishes  will  eat  me  and  I  am  done  for 
ever" ;  at  this  thought  he  cried  bitterly,  it  was  annihilation 
the  poor  little  fellow  dreaded,  for  as  soon  as  he  was  con- 
vinced that  God  could  get  him  up,  he  became  quite  calm  and 
resigned. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          49 

Tho'  the  immediate  danger  was  now  over,  the  storm  had 
not  subsided.  The  sea  was  in  most  frightful  commotion,  and 
the  waves  so  tumultuous,  that  the  deck  was  never  a  moment 
dry.  Judge  then  what  must  have  been  the  sufferings  of  the 
poor  emigrants,  who  were  confined  directly  under  it;  with- 
out air  but  what  came  down  the  crannies,  thro'  which  also 
the  sea  poured  on  them  incessantly.  For  many  days  together, 
they  could  not  ly  down,  but  sat  supporting  their  little  ones 
in  their  arms,  who  must  otherwise  have  been  drowned.  No 
victuals  could  be  dressed,  nor  fire  got  on,  so  that  all  they  had 
to  subsist  on,  was  some  raw  potatoes,  and  a  very  small  pro- 
portion of  mouldy  brisket.  In  this  condition  they  remained 
for  nine  days,  with  scarcely  any  interval,  (good  Heavens! 
poor  Creatures)  without  light,  meat  or  air,  with  the  imme- 
diate prospect  of  death  before  them;  from  the  last  indeed 
they  should  have  found  the  only  comfort.  Their  innocent 
Souls  had  little  to  fear  from  that  prospect.  This  world  had 
been  to  them  a  purgatory,  and  a  few  short  fluttering  sighs, 
with  a  little  struggle,  would  have  finished  their  pains,  and 
put  a  period  to  a  life  of  disappointment  and  sorrow.  They 
would  soon  have  found  a  watery  tomb  and  been  for  ever  at 
rest.  But  what  rest  remained  for  the  iron-hearted  tyrant,  who 
forced  age  and  infancy  into  such  distress  *?  Could  he  sleep  in 
peace,  who  had  provided  such  a  cradle  for  the  Babe,  and 
such  a  pillow  for  the  hoary  head?  Perhaps  he  did,  but  he 
may  be  assured  that  unless  he  meet  that  mercy  he  has  not 
shown,  the  lot  of  these  despised  wanderers  is  envyable,  com- 
pared to  his.  Forgive  this,  but  the  scene  is  before  me,  and 
that  will  excuse  me  to  a  heart  so  feeling  as  yours. 

After  several  days'  confinement  to  bed,  we  at  last  got  to 
the  Cabin.  During  our  confinement,  we  were  fed  by  our 
honest  Indian  with  a  large  ham,  he  had  been  wise  enough  to 
boil,  when  he  observed  the  storm  first  begin;  together  with 
a  little  wine  and  bisket.  It  was  now  finished  to  our  no  small 
regret,  nor  could  we  in  any  way  supply  it,  for  the  weather 


50       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

was  still  very  squally,  and  tho'  the  wind  at  times  inter- 
mitted its  violence,  yet  the  sea  ran  so  high,  that  the  motion 
of  the  Vessel  was  intolerable,  nor  could  any  fire  be  made,  as 
the  waves  came  on  board  and  drowned  it  out  as  soon  as 
lighted.  The  Emigrants  were  still  confined  below  the  hatches, 
and  this  was  really  necessary,  as  they  must  have  been  washed 
over  had  they  gone  on  deck,  which  their  misery  would  have 
made  them  venture.  In  this  wretched  situation,  a  poor  young 
woman,  who  had  been  married  only  a  few  months,  was  so 
terrified,  that  she  miscarried.  She  was  supposed  for  sometime 
dead  by  the  women  about  her,  nor  could  the  least  assistance 
or  relief  be  afforded  her.  This  was  a  sight  for  a  fond  hus- 
band ;  the  poor  fellow  was  absolutely  distracted,  and,  break- 
ing thro'  all  restraint,  forced  up  the  hatch,  and  carried  her 
in  his  arms  on  deck,  which  saved  her  life,  as  the  fresh  air 
recalled  her  Senses.  He  then  flew  to  us,  and  in  the  most 
affecting  manner,  implored  our  Assistance,  but  what  could 
we  do  for  her^  her  cloaths  all  wet,  not  a  dry  spot  to  lay  her 
on,  nor  a  fire  to  warm  her  a  drink.  I  gave  her,  however,  a  few 
hartshorn  drops,  with  a  bottle  of  wine  for  her  use,  and  she  is 
actually  recovered. 

We  had  not  yet  ventured  on  deck,  nor  were  our  dead  lights 
taken  down,  when  an  unforseen  accident,  had  nearly  com- 
pleted what  the  storm  had  not  been  able  to  effect,  and  sent 
us  to  the  bottom  at  a  minute's  warning.  Were  you  a  sailor, 
I  need  only  tell  you  our  ship  broached  to,  to  inform  you  of 
the  danger  we  were  in,  but  as  you  are  not  one,  I  may  suppose 
you  unacquainted  with  sea  terms,  and  will  therefore  inform 
you,  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  fatal  accidents  that  can  happen 
to  a  ship,  and  generally  proves  immediate  destruction. 
Which,  tho'  you  be  no  Sailor,  you  will  comprehend,  when  I 
tell  you  that  the  meaning  of  broached  to,  is,  that  the  Vessel 
fairly  lies  down  on  one  side,  but  you  will  understand  it  better 
by  being  informed  of  what  we  suffered  from  it. 

We  were  sitting  by  our  melancholy  Taper,  in  no  very 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         51 

chearful  mood  ourselves;  my  brother  (fortunately  for  him) 
was  within  the  companion  ladder.  The  Captain  had  come 
down  to  the  Cabin  to  overhaul  his  Log-book  and  Journal, 
which  he  had  scarcely  begun  to  do,  when  the  Ship  gave  such 
a  sudden  and  violent  heel  over,  as  broke  every  thing  from 
their  moorings,  and  in  a  moment  the  great  Sea-chests,  the 
boys'  bed,  my  brother's  cott,  Miss  Rutherfurd's  Harpsicord, 
with  tables,  chairs,  joint-stools,  pewter  plates  etc,  etc.,  to- 
gether with  Fanny,  Jack  and  myself,  were  tumbling  heels 
over  head  to  the  side  the  Vessel  had  laid  down  on.  It  is  im- 
possible to  describe  the  horror  of  our  situation.  The  candle 
was  instantly  extinguished,  and  all  this  going  on  in  the  dark, 
without  the  least  idea  of  what  produced  it,  or  what  was  to 
be  its  end.  The  Cap1  sprung  on  deck  the  moment  he  felt  the 
first  motion,  for  he  knew  well  enough  its  consequence;  to 
complete  the  horror  of  the  scene,  the  sea  poured  in  on  us,  over 
my  brother's  head,  who  held  fast  the  ladder  tho'  almost 
drowned,  while  we  were  floated  by  a  perfect  deluge;  and 
that  nothing  might  be  wanting  that  could  terrify  us,  a  fa- 
vourite cat  of  Billie's  lent  her  assistance.  For  happening  to 
be  busily  engaged  with  a  cheese,  just  behind  me,  she  stuck 
fast  by  it,  and  sadly  frighted  with  what  she  as  little  under- 
stood as  we  did,  mewed  in  so  wild  a  manner,  that  if  we  had 
thought  at  all,  we  would  certainly  have  thought  it  was  Davy 
Jones  the  terror  of  all  sailors,  come  to  fetch  us  away. 

Busy  as  this  scene  appears  in  description,  it  did  not  last 
half  the  time,  it  takes  in  telling.  Nothing  can  save  a  ship  in 
this  situation,  but  cutting  away  her  masts,  and  the  time 
necessary  for  this  generally  proves  fatal  to  her,  but  our  masts 
were  so  shattered  by  the  late  storm,  that  they  went  over  by 
the  Board  of  themselves,  and  the  Vessel  instantly  recovered. 
This  second  motion,  however,  was  as  severely  felt  in  the 
Cabin  as  the  first,  and  as  unaccountable,  for  we  were  shoved 
with  equal  Violence  to  the  other  side,  and  were  overwhelmed 
by  a  second  deluge  of  Sea  water.  At  last  however  it  in  some 


52       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

degree  settled,  and,  thank  God,  no  further  mischief  has  hap- 
pened, than  my  forehead  cut,  Jack's  leg  a  little  bruised,  and 
the  last  of  our  poultry,  a  poor  duck,  squeezed  as  flat  as  a 
pancake. 

When  the  light  was  rekindled,  a  most  ridiculous  scene  was 
exhibited,  viz1  the  sight  of  the  Cabin  with  us  in  it,  amidst  a 
most  uncommon  set  of  articles.  For  besides  the  furniture 
formerly  mentioned,  the  two  state  rooms  had  sent  forth  their 
contents,  and  the  one  occupied  by  the  Captain,  being  a  sort 
of  store  room,  amongst  many  other  things  a  barrel  of 
Molasses  pitched  directly  on  me,  as  did  also  a  box  of  small 
candles,  so  I  appeared  as  if  tarred  and  feathered,  stuck  all 
over  with  farthing  candles. 

The  Cabin  was  at  last  put  to  rights.  A  fire  was  now  able 
to  be  lighted,  and  fortunately  our  Tea  Kettle  was  safe;  so 
Robert  with  all  expedition  got  us  a  dish  of  very  bad  tea,  no 
milk  nor  any  succedaneum  to  supply  its  place,  the  ham  eat 
out,  and  every  thing  else  gone  to  Davy  Jones'  locker,  that 
is  to  the  Devil.  We  were  now  forced  to  demand  the  Ship's 
provisions,  for  which  we  had  paid  very  handsomely,  and  of 
which  I  had  a  splendid  list  in  my  pocket  from  the  owner,  but 
it  was  the  man  with  the  bacon  and  eggs;  whatever  I  asked 
had  been  unfortunately  forgot,  but  what  else  I  pleased.  At 
last  I  prayed  them  to  tell  me  what  they  really  had  on  board, 
and  had  the  mortification  to  find  that  the  whole  ship's  pro- 
vision for  a  voyage  cross  the  Tropick,  consisted  of  a  few 
barrels  of  what  is  called  neck-beef,  or  cast  beef,  a  few  more 
of  New  England  pork  (on  a  third  voyage  cross  the  Atlantick, 
and  the  hot  Climates),  Oat  meal,  stinking  herrings,  and,  to 
own  the  truth,  most  excellent  Potatoes.  Had  our  stock 
escaped,  we  had  never  known  the  poverty  of  the  Ship,  as  we 
had  more  than  sufficient  for  us  all.  But  what  must  now  be- 
come of  us?  Our  cabbages,  turnips,  carrots  all  gone,  except 
a  few  Turnips,  which  provident  Robert  had  placed  in  such  a 
manner,  as  to  spring  and  produce  us  greens  and  sallad,  a 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          53 

delicacy,  which  you  must  cross  the  Atlantick,  before  you  can 
properly  relish  as  we  do. 

We  now  called  a  general  council  on  this  truly  interesting 
and  important  question,  What  shall  we  eat*?  By  the  returns 
made  by  Robert  and  Mary,  we  found  we  had  still  a  cag  of 
excellent  butter,  a  barrel  of  flower,  a  barrell  of  onions,  and 
half  a  Cheese,  besides  a  few  eggs.  As  an  addition  to  this  the 
Captain  had  the  humanity  to  restore  us  a  parcel  of  very  fine 
tusk  [sic],  which  he  had  accidentally  stowed  away.  I  wish 
he  had  likewise  let  us  have  a  cask  of  porter,  which  had  the 
same  fate.  Of  these  materials  Mary  and  Robert  make  us 
something  wonderfully  good  every  day.  For  example,  Lobs- 
course  is  one  of  the  most  savoury  dishes  I  ever  eat.  It  is  com- 
posed of  Salt  beef  hung  by  a  string  over  the  side  of  the  ship, 
till  rendered  tolerably  fresh,  then  cut  in  nice  little  pieces,  and 
with  potatoes,  onions  and  pepper,  is  stewed  for  some  time, 
with  the  addition  of  a  proportion  of  water.  This  is  my 
favourite  dish;  but  scratch-platter,  chouder,  stir-about,  and 
some  others  have  all  their  own  merit. 

But  alas  our  Voyage  is  hardly  half  over;  and  yet  I  ought 
not  to  complain,  when  I  see  the  poor  Emigrants,  to  which  our 
living  is  luxury.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  believe  that  human 
nature  could  be  so  depraved,  as  to  treat  fellow  creatures  in 
such  a  manner  for  a  little  sordid  gain.  They  have  only  for  a 
grown  person  per  week,  one  pound  neck  beef,  or  spoilt  pork, 
two  pounds  oatmeal,  with  a  small  quantity  of  bisket,  not 
only  mouldy,  but  absolutely  crumbled  down  with  damp,  wet 
and  rottenness.  The  half  is  only  allowed  a  child,  so  that  if 
they  had  not  potatoes,  it  is  impossible  they  could  live  out  the 
Voyage.  They  have  no  drink,  but  a  very  small  proportion  of 
brakish  bad  water.  As  our  owner  to  save  our  expence,  took 
the  water  for  his  ship  from  a  pit  well  in  his  own  back  yeard, 
tho'  fine  springs  were  at  a  very  little  distance,  even  this 
scanty  allowance  is  grudged  them,  and  is  often  due  sometime 
before  they  are  able  to  get  it  weighed  out  to  them.  Adieu,  my 


54       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

friend,  I  go  to  dream  of  you ;  My  soul  takes  wing  the  moment 
its  heavy  companion  is  laid  to  rest,  and  flies  to  land,  forget- 
ting the  watery  scene,  with  which  we  are  surrounded.  Yet  it 
is  wonderful  how  sound  we  sleep ;  amidst  danger,  death  and 
sorrow,  an  unseen  hand  seals  up  our  eyes,  watches  over  our 
slumbers,  and  wonderfully  supports  and  preserves  our 
healths,  and  I  make  no  doubt,  will  at  last  set  us  safely  on 
sound  ground.  Adieu,  adieu. 

Our  Ship  is  a  complete  wreck.  Masts,  Sails,  and  rigging 
of  all  kinds,  lying  on  the  deck,  the  ship  itself  an  inactive 
hulk,  lying  on  the  water  peaceably,  thank  God,  for  the  winds 
and  waves  seem  satisfied  with  the  mischief  they  have  done. 
They  talk  of  putting  up  Jury  Masts,*  but  what  these  are  I 
do  not  yet  know.  I  have  now  given  you  as  far  as  I  remember, 
all  that  has  happened  aboard,  since  I  laid  my  pen  down 
when  the  storm  began,  and  not  having  much  subject  for  this 
day,  hope  you  will  excuse  my  once  more  introducing  my 
Emigrants  to  your  notice,  whose  misfortunes  seem  to  know 
no  end. 

As  soon  as  I  heard  they  were  released  from  their  gloomy 
confinement,  I  went  on  deck  to  see  and  to  congratulate  them 
on  their  safety.  I  was  happy  to  find  my  number  compleat, 
for  I  hardly  expected  to  see  them  all  living,  but  was  much 
concerned  to  find  them  engaged  in  a  new  scene  of  distress. 
When  these  unhappy  wanderers  were  driven  from  what  they 
esteemed  their  earthly  paradise,  they  had  gone  to  Greenock,f 
in  hopes  of  meeting  a  Vessel  to  bear  them  far  from  the  cruel 
hand  that  forced  them  forth,  but  most  unluckily  all  the 
ships  were  sailed.  Having  no  means  to  support  life  another 
year,  they  rejoiced  to  hear  of  our  ship,  which,  tho'  late,  was 
yet  to  sail  this  season.  With  infinite  labour  and  expences 
from  their  little  stock,  they  reached  Burnt  Island.  They 
threw  themselves  on  the  mercy  of  the  owner,  who  was  gener- 

*  A  jury  mast  was  one  rigged  for  temporary  service  in  an  emergency. 
t  Greenock,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Clyde,  is  the  seaport  of  Glasgow. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          55 

ous  enough  to  take  only  double,  what  he  had  a  right  to. 
Their  long  journey  had  so  far  exhausted  their  finances,  that 
they  could  only  pay  half  in  hand,  but  bound  themselves 
slaves  for  a  certain  number  of  years  to  pay  the  rest.*  Lawson 
bound  himself  double,  to  save  his  wife  and  daughter.  This 
was  too  advantageous  a  bargain  for  Avarice  to  withstand,  he 
greedily  closed  with  the  proposal,  but  thought  only  of  de- 
ceiving us,  not  of  providing  for  them,  so  that  as  soon  as  they 
were  got  on  board,  with  many  kind  and  fair  promises,  they 
were  shut  under  the  hatches,  where  they  were  confined,  till 
the  third  day  we  were  at  sea.  In  the  meantime,  all  that 
remained  of  their  worldly  wealth,  was  contained  in  a  timber 
chest  for  each  family,  which  were  without  mercy  or  distinc- 
tion thrown  into  the  long  boat,  and  as  that  was  under  water 
for  near  fifteen  days,  the  consequence  was  the  glue  had  given 
way,  the  chests  fallen  to  pieces,  and  every  thing  was  floating 
promiscuously  above  the  water.  Notwithstanding  all  their 
former  misfortunes,  this  severely  affected  them ;  the  women 
particularly  could  not  stand  it,  without  tears  and  lamenta- 
tions. 

Affecting  as  the  scene  was  in  general,  it  was  impossible  not 
to  smile  at  some  Individuals.  Besides  the  company  of  Emi- 
grants, there  was  a  Smith  with  his  wife,  two  taylors  and  a 
handsome  young  Cooper.  These  were  voluntarily  going  to 
the  West  Indies,  to  mend  or  make  their  fortune,  so  had  no 
claim  to  that  pity  the  others  had  a  right  to.  The  Smith's 
wife,  who  ruled  her  husband  with  a  rod  of  iron,  had  made 
him  lay  out  much  money  to  figure  away  in  a  strange  country, 

*  The  Highlanders  had  bound  themselves  to  the  master  of  the  ship  in 
return  for  their  food  and  transportation.  Thus  they  had  become  indentured 
servants,  whose  time  for  four,  five,  or  six  years  might  be  sold  on  their  arrival 
in  the  colony  to  whomsoever  would  buy.  The  buying  of  these  indentures  or 
contracts  was  a  recognized  method  of  obtaining  laborers  in  nearly  all  the 
British  colonies  in  America,  West  Indian  and  continental  alike.  The  hard- 
ships involved  and  the  extent  to  which  the  servants  suffered  practical  slavery 
differed  with  the  period  and  the  colony. 


56       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  had  bestowed  great  part  of  it  on  dress  for  her  own 
person,  which  had  now  shared  the  fate  of  the  others.  As  she 
was  in  perfect  despair  at  her  loss,  I  had  a  curiosity  to  see 
what  it  was,  and  found  she  had  provided  for  her  West  India 
dress,  a  green  stuff  damask  gown,  with  Scarlet  Callamanco 
cuffs,  a  crimson  plaid,  and  a  double  stuff  Petticoat,  the  rest 
of  the  dress  I  suppose  in  proportion.  As  we  were  condoling 
this  Lady,  a  little  fellow  came  up  and  with  a  sorrowful  face 
begged  to  know,  if  any  body  had  seen  his  goose.  I  supposed 
his  goose  had  shared  the  fate  of  my  Duck,  which  I  was  very 
sorry  for;  but  found  he  was  a  tailor  who  had  lost  his  smooth- 
ing iron.  But  while  I  was  amusing  myself  with  the  imagi- 
nary distress  of  these  adventurers,  I  observed  Mrs  Lawson 
sitting  composedly  on  the  deck,  with  her  little  family  round 
her,  paying  no  attention  to  what  was  going  on.  "I  hope,"  said 
I  to  her,  "your  things  are  not  there;  you  appear  so  calm  and 
easy."  "Alas,  Madam,"  returned  she,  "I  am  hardened  to 
Misfortunes,  all  I  have  in  the  world  is  there,  but,  thank  God, 
my  infants  are  all  safe."  Just  then  little  Marion  came  up, 
with  a  face  full  of  anxiety,  and  a  lap  full  of  wet  cloths. 
"Oh !  Dear  Aunt,"  cried  she,  "here  is  every  thing  ruined,  here 
is  your  very  [best]  popline  gown  all  spoiled,  and  here  is  my 
Uncle's  new  Waistcoat  and  your  best  petticoat,"  continued 
she,  shaking  them  out  as  she  spoke,  and  hanging  them  up  to 
dry.  Mrs  Lawson  took  up  her  little  boy,  kissed  it,  and  smiled 
resignation;  so  leaving  little  Marion  to  perform  her  task  of 
duty  and  affection,  I  moved  to  the  Cabin. 

Could  love  be  quenched  like  common  fire,  surely  not  a 
single  spark  would  have  remained  aboard  the  Jamaica 
Packet,  yet  if  we  may  believe  the  word  of  an  Abigail,  this 
is  far  from  being  the  case,  and  the  little  deity  finds  as  good 
sport  in  shooting  our  sea  gulls  as  your  land  pigeons.  If  I  am 
not  mistaken  Mrs  Mary  has  herself  got  a  scratch,  tho'  she 
was  a  very  prude  at  land.  Love  is  not  a  passion  (says  a 
philosophic  friend  of  mine)  but  inspired  from  situation. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES          57 

How  then  can  the  poor  maid  be  blamed,  there  are  two  or 
three  handsome  fellows  aboard,  on  one  of  whom  I  suspect 
she  has  Cast  the  eye  of  affection.  He  is  no  Joseph,  I  dare  say, 
and  as  Mary  keeps  the  keys,  I  make  no  doubt  she  will  be 
successful.  It  is  wonderful  how  this  gentle  passion  has  sweet- 
ened her  temper,  and  we  think  ourselves  much  obliged  to 
David,  for  so  he  is  called,  for  her  good  humour.  We  took 
notice  of  him  first  in  compliment  to  her ;  and  soon  made  him 
our  acquaintance,  from  a  better  reason,  as  my  brother  finds 
him  the  only  person  that  knows  any  thing  of  this  navigation, 
he  having  made  the  voyage  two  or  three  times.  He  is  besides 
a  sensible  clever  fellow,  and  much  fitter  to  sail  the  ship  than 
his  Captain.  By  him  we  are  assured  we  are  a  great  way  out 
of  our  course.  He  shewed  my  brother  a  reckoning  he  pri- 
vately kept,  which  was  very  regular,  and  much  better  than 
that  of  the  Cap*.  My  brother  has  kept  one  all  along,  and  has 
great  suspicions  of  what  he  is  now  told. 

We  were  all  like  to  be  overset,  with  our  new  friend  Davy 
this  morning.  Scandal,  that  sad  amphibious  monster,  that 
can  thrive  both  by  land  and  water,  has  given  much  disturb- 
ance to  poor  Mary,  who  entered  the  Cabin  this  morning  all 
in  a  flutter.  "Dear  Ladies,"  cried  she,  "what  do  you  think; 
to  be  sure  'tis  no  wonder  we  had  such  storms ;  for  a  judgment 
must  follow  such  doings,  to  be  sure  I  make  no  doubt  we 
will  all  be  cast  away."  "Pray,  Mrs  Miller,"  said  I,  "what's 
the  matter?"  "I  intend  to  tell,"  said  she,  "but  who  would 
ever  have  thought  it,  that  handsome  man.  But  now  I  think 
he  is  not  handsome  a  bit,  for  handsome  is,  that  handsome 
does."  She  run  on  a  great  while  longer,  but  to  relieve  you 
sooner  than  she  did  me,  I  will  tell  you  that  she  had  been 
informed  he  had  another  fair  one  on  Board,  to  whom  he  paid 
more  attention  than  to  her,  and  to  add  to  the  injury,  the  very 
wine  which  she  gave  him,  had  been  converted  to  the  use  of 
this  favourite  Sultana.  He  has  contrived  to  make  up  matters, 
and  she  now  says  that  if  there  were  not  bad  women,  there 


58       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

would  be  no  bad  men.  'Tis  a  constant  maxim  with  us  always 
to  throw  the  blame  on  our  own  sex,  when  a  favourite  Lover 
is  unfaithful,  we  never  fail  to  discover  he  has  been  taken  in 
by  art  to  deceive  us. 

I  hope  this  fine  weather  will  give  me  something  better 
worth  your  reading,  but  as  I  write  every  day,  you  must  some- 
times be  satisfied  with  such  subjects  as  this  narrow  scene 
affords.  We  are  now  in  the  latitude  of  Madeira,  but  what 
that  is,  I  leave  you  to  consult  the  map  for.  I  will  tell  you 
however  that  the  weather  is  fine;  tho'  we  have  not  got  into 
the  trade  winds.  I  told  you  before  that  my  brother  suspects 
the  Captain's  calculations;  this  he  is  daily  more  convinced  of, 
which  does  not  make  us  very  easy.  Our  Cap*  is  an  excellent 
practical  sailor,  very  alert,  knows  all  the  dutys  of  a  foremast 
man,  is  the  first  to  go  aloft,  and  takes  his  share  of  the  hardest 
duty;  but  tho'  he  would  do  very  well  in  that  station,  has  had 
no  education  to  fit  him  to  command  a  ship ;  and  were  not  my 
brother  on  board,  we  could  not  take  even  an  observation 
with  any  certainty.  We  are  almost  continually  on  deck,  the 
weather  is  so  fine,  and  we  find  great  amusement  from  the  sky 
over  us  and  the  water  under  us.  In  the  first  place,  we  not  only 
build  castles,  but  plant  forests,  lay  out  gardens,  and  raise 
cities,  and  wander  with  much  delight  thro'  hills,  groves  and 
valleys.  Do  not  despise  these  airy  Scenes,  for  pray  my  friend 
how  much  better  are  you  employed  in  your  world?  Do  not 
your  schemes  of  happiness  change,  vary  and  disappear?  In- 
deed, indeed,  by  sea  and  by  land  we  are  at  best  pursuing  a 
cloud  which  fancy  has  raised,  and  your  fairest  enjoyments 
are  not  more  durable  than  our  sea  landscapes,  if  I  may  call 
them  so. 

We  have  had  two  sharks  that  followed  us  all  this  day. 
They  have  stole  our  beef  and  spoilt  our  Lobscourse,  but  we 
are  busy  contriving  to  be  revenged  and  to  eat  them.  You  have 
them  much  better  described  than  I  can,  as  only  their  head 
and  tail  are  seen  above  the  water.  They  are  very  swift  Swim- 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         59 

mers,  and  it  is  said  that  they  have  such  strength  in  their  tail, 
that  when  brought  on  board,  they  often  damage  the  deck,  by 
beating  it  about;  so  that  when  they  are  hooked,  the  Carpen- 
ter stands  ready  with  his  axe  to  cut  it  off. 

As  I  was  pleasing  myself  this  morning,  with  lying  over  the 
side  of  the  ship,  and  seeing  the  fishes  in  pursuit  of  each  other, 
gliding  by,  I  observed  a  fine  hawk-bill  turtle  asleep,  almost 
close  along  side.  Oh !  how  our  mouths  did  water  at  it,  but 
watered  alas  in  vain;  for  before  any  method  could  be 
thought  of,  it  waked  and  dived  under  the  water.  I  presently 
recollected,  however,  that  this  pride  of  luxury  was  too 
luxurious  himself  to  be  many  miles  from  land.  This  I  men- 
tioned to  the  Captain,  but  as  his  reading  or  observation  had 
not  reached  so  far,  he  held  mine  very  cheap.  We  have  how- 
ever laid  a  bet :  he,  that  we  are  many  hundred  leagues  from 
land;  I,  that  we  are  not  above  a  hundred  Miles.  He  says, 
twenty  four  hours  will  determine  the  wager,  for,  if  I  am 
right,  in  that  time  we  will  see  some  land;  if  not,  we  will  see 
none  till  we  arrive  amongst  the  Leeward  Islands.  My  brother 
joins  me,  tho'  he  owns  he  has  no  other  reason,  than  the  same 
observation  I  made  from  seeing  the  turtle. 

The  weather  is  now  so  soft,  that  my  brother  and  Miss 
Rutherfurd  are  able  to  amuse  themselves  with  their  musick. 
His  German  flute  is  particularly  agreeable,  and  one  would 
think,  by  the  number  of  fishes  that  are  crouding  round  us, 
that  he  were  the  Orpheus  of  the  water.  If  some  of  the  sea- 
green  nymphs  would  raise  their  heads  and  join  their  Voices, 
it  would  be  a  pretty  concert.  Some  of  our  fair  Shipmates, 
however,  favour  us  with  a  melancholy  "Lochaber  Nae 
rnaer,"  or  "heaven  preserve  my  bonny  Scotch  laddie,"  sounds 
that  vibrate  thro'  several  hearts. 

Pleasant  as  this  evening  is,  I  must  leave  it  for  my  little  state 
room,  and  get  into  bed ;  which  is  almost  a  pity.  How  sweet 
it  is,  the  moon  shines  over  us  so  clear,  that  it  puts  me  in 
mind  of  what  I  have  been  told  of  two  lovers  who  were  to 


60       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

part  far.  They  promised  that  at. a  certain  hour,  they  would 
constantly  look  at  the  Moon,  and  have  the  pleasure  to  think 
they  were  then  both  admiring  the  same  object.  I  think  I 
could  improve  on  this.  Suppose  at  a  certain  hour,  we  both 
were  to  adore  the  same  great  power,  who  rules  by  Sea  and 
land,  and  to  beg  blessings  of  him  for  each  other.  Don't  you 
think,  my  long  loved  friend,  that  in  such  a  moment,  our 
Souls,  tho'  not  our  bodies,  might  meet  and  mix,  we  know  not 
how?  I  go  to  try  the  experiment,  and  hope  you  also  are  above 
this  low  world  to  meet  me. 

I  have  won  my  wager;  we  came  in  sight  of  land  long  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  the  twenty  four  hours.  Just  as  we  were 
stepping  into  bed,  the  Captain  came  and  owned  I  was  right, 
for  that  we  were  along  side  of  land,  but  what  land,  he  con- 
fest,  he  was  utterly  ignorant.  We  presently  slipt  on  our 
wrapping  gowns  and  with  great  joy  went  on  deck.  The  moon 
was  now  down,  and  we  could  only  observe  a  thing  resembling 
a  great  black  cloud.  The  Captain  swore  that  he  believed  after 
all  it  was  only  Cape  Fly  Away.ft  But  we  were  all  positive  we 
smelt  the  land  Air,  which  on  my  word  I  really  did.  My 
brother  had  now  got  all  the  maps,  charts,  Journals,  etc.,  be- 
fore him,  and  in  a  very  short  time,  declared  with  absolute 
certainty,  that  we  were  among  the  Azores  or  Western  Is- 
lands. The  Captain,  the  Mate  and  all  now.  agreed  in  the 
same  opinion.  These,  I  suppose  you  know,  are  a  set  of  very 
fine  African  Islands,  which  appertain  to  the  kingdom  of 
Portugal.  Mr  Schaw  further  assured  us  that  the  one  we  were 
now  over  against,  was  called  Graciosa,  a  name  it  had  from 
its  extraordinary  beauty.  The  next  thing  was  to  get  the  Cap- 
tain to  ly  to,  as  it  was  very  dangerous  for  him  to  proceed  on 
his  way,  thro'  a  cluster  of  Islands,  of  which  he  was  con- 
fessedly ignorant.  This  being  agreed  to,  we  all  returned  into 
the  Cabin.  Read  the  description  of  the  Island  from  Salmon's 

#  A  cant  word  for  mistaking  a  cloud  for  land. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         61 

Geographical  Grammar.*  We're  charmed  to  find  it  produces 
every  thing  we  want,  Sheep,  poultry,  bread,  wine  and  a 
variety  of  Vegetables,  besides  the  finest  fruits  in  the  world. 
The  means  to  obtain  them  was  the  next  question,  for  which 
purpose  my  brother  wrote  three  cards,  one  in  Latin  to  the 
Superior  of  the  convent,  one  in  French  to  whoever  could  read 
it,  and  one  in  English  to  our  Consul,  if  there  was  such  on  the 
Island.f  These  set  forth  that  aboard  were  several  people  of 
fashion,  particularly  two  Ladies,  that  we  had  lost  every 
thing  by  the  storm,  and  that  the  Ladies  could  not  doubt  of 
being  properly  supplied  from  the  known  politeness  and  gal- 
lantry of  the  Portugueze.  As  the  cards  added  that  the  boat 
would  pay  whatever  price  was  demanded,  there  was  no  doubt 
but  we  would  have  been  plentifully  supplied  with  whatever 
the  Island  could  afford.  But  our  brute  of  a  Captain  rendered 
all  this  useless,  and  has  fixed  us  down  to  finish  our  Voyage 
without  a  single  comfort. 

After  this  affair  was  settled,  we  went  to  bed,  but  our 
spirits  were  so  elated  that  we  could  not  sleep,  so  were  again 
on  deck  by  the  first  peep  of  morning  dawn.  We  now  saw  the 
Island  most  distinctly,  and  must  own  that  it  deserves  its 
name,  for  never  did  my  eyes  behold  so  beautiful  a  spot.  It 
does  not  seem  in  length  above  five  or  at  most  six  Miles ;  its 
breadth  I  could  not  see.  In  the  centre  is  a  large  extensive 
plane,  surrounded  with  hills  in  form  of  an  Amphitheatre; 
the  ground  rises  by  an  easy  ascent  all  the  way  from  the  shore, 
and  in  the  bosom  of  the  hills,  stands  a  very  noble  house, 
round  which  is  a  great  deal  of  fine  laid  out  policy.^:  It  fronts 
the  shore,  and  is  entirely  open  to  the  Sea,  and  tho'  the  Island 

*  Thomas  Salmon,  A  New  Geographical  and  Historical  Grammar,  with 
a  set  of  twenty-two  maps,  London,  octavo,  1749.  Sixth  edition,  1758.  There 
were  later  editions  also. 

f  The  knowledge  of  languages  possessed  by  Alexander  Schaw  and  Miss 
Schaw's  later  friend,  Archibald  Neilson  (pp.  218-221),  is  suggestive  of  the 
culture  of  Edinburgh  and  other  lowland  Scottish  towns  at  this  time. 

t  A  Scottish  word  meaning  the  improved  grounds  around  a  country  house. 


62       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

is  evidently  under  the  power  of  winter,  the  beauty  of  the 
Verdure  is  inconceivable ;  and  when  the  Vines,  which  are  now 
leafless  and  cut  down,  are  in  foliage  and  fruit,  it  is  certainly 
a  garden  that,  had  our  first  parents  been  sent  to  repent  in, 
they  would  soon  have  forgot  their  native  Eden.  The  hills 
behind  the  plane  were  covered  with  pasture  or  Vineyard,  and 
we  observed  forts  on  two  of  them,  but  no  other  house  of  any 
note,  tho'  some  hamlets  were  scattered  here  and  there,  and 
what  we  took  to  be  Orange  groves  by  the  figure  of  the  tree. 
The  Captain  however  expressly  refused  to  send  the  boat 
ashore. 

In  this  resolution  he  was  confirmed  by  a  fright  he  got  in 
the  morning,  and  which  indeed  alarmed  us  all,  and  with 
reason;  this  was  the  appearance  of  a  ship  which  was  taken 
for  an  Algerine  corsair,  with  which  these  Seas  are  terribly 
infested.  "O  God!"  cried  the  Captain  as  he  entered  the 
Cabin,  "we  are  undone,  for  we  have  no  Mediterranean 
pass."*  You  may  guess  our  situation  on  this  intelligence. 
But  my  brother  whose  presence  of  mind  never  forsakes  him, 
asked  us  in  a  pleasant  way,  if  we  were  afraid  of  being  their 
Sultanas  and  bade  us  dress,  that  our  appearance  might  gain 

*A  Mediterranean  pass  was  a  necessary  document  for  all  ships,  British 
and  colonial,  trading  in  the  Mediterranean  or  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  north 
and  south  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  It  was  a  permit  on  parchment,  partly 
engraved  and  partly  written,  issued  by  the  British  Admiralty  to  protect  ves- 
sels from  attack  by  the  Barbary  cruisers,  under  the  terms  of  treaties  pre- 
viously entered  into  with  the  Barbary  states.  A  single  pass  could  be  used 
for  more  than  one  voyage.  Under  Admiralty  rules,  it  was  to  be  endorsed  by 
the  British  consul  at  every  port  entered  and  when  done  with  to  be  returned 
to  the  issuing  office. 

The  form  and  wording  were  as  follows : 

[King  of  England,  etc.]  to  all  persons  whom  these  may  concern  greeting. 

Suffer  the  ship to  pass,  with  her  company,  passengers,  goods, 

and  merchandizes,  without  any  let,  hinderance,  seizure,  or  molestation ;  the 
said  ship  appearing  unto  us,  by  good  testimony,  to  belong  to  our  subjects, 
and  to  no  foreigner.  Given  under  our  sign  manual  and  the  seal  of  the  Ad- 
miralty, at  the  court  at ,  this day  of ,  in  the 

year  of  our  Lord,  one  thousand  and  seven  hundred  and  . 

By  his  Majesty's  Command, 

[Signature  of  the  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty]  [Signature  of  the  King] 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         63 

us  respect,  and  the  hope  of  a  ransome  procure  us  civil  treat- 
ment. We  immediately  obeyed  him,  but  before  our  task  was 
finished,  our  fears  were  happily  at  an  end,  by  the  Vessel 
sailing  from  us  as  fast  as  she  was  able.  We  plied  off  and  on, 
in  hopes  that  some  boats  would  come  off  to  us,  But  they  are 
so  much  afraid  of  the  Algerines  that  they  seldom  venture 
out.  The  morning  was  now  pretty  far  advanced,  the  smoke 
began  to  rise  from  the  chimneys  of  the  elegant  house,  which 
was  full  in  our  view,  and  my  Imagination  formed  a  delight- 
ful parlour,  where  a  happy  family  were  saluting  each  other 
with  the  compliments  of  the  morning,  and  sitting  down  in 
comfort  to  a  cheerful  breakfast;  and  I  had  such  an  inclina- 
tion to  join  this  family,  that  I  cannot  help  thinking  I  am 
some  how  connected  with  them,  and  found  myself  so  familiar 
with  them,  that  I  am  certain  in  some  future  period  of  my 
life,  I  will  be  on  that  Island. 

We  now  despaired  of  boats,  so  were  forced  to  set  sail 
again  with  much  regret.  As  we  sailed  along  the  Island,  we 
saw  every  hill  covered  with  Vines  or  rich  pasture.  A  very 
fine  highway  went  round  the  Island,  and  near  the  end  of  it 
was  a  large  church,  and  a  considerable  building  which  we 
supposed  to  be  a  convent,  also  a  fort  which  seemed  of  some 
strength.  The  day  turned  out  very  clear  and  fine,  but  we  were 
not  sufficiently  near  any  of  the  other  Islands  to  .see  them 
distinctly.  Sf  George  stands  very  high,  is  rocky  and  seems  a 
fine  Island;  S1  Thomas*  is  still  smaller,  but  looks  very  green 
and  seems  to  have  many  trees  on  it.  We  had  a  distant  view 
of  Pecoa,  which  appears  one  high  rock  formed  like  a  sugar 
loaf.  We  now  came  on  Fyall,  which  is  a  noble  Island;  here 
we  wished  greatly  to  put  in  and  refit.  We  knew  this  Island 
carried  on  a  very  considerable  trade  with  Britain,  that  many 
English  resided  on  it,  and  above  all  saw  by  the  Almanack 
that  a  Scotch  man  was  Consul.  The  Captain  seemed  to  yield, 

*  There  is  today  no  "St.  Thomas"  among  the  Azores ;  the  reference  may 
be  to  the  island  of  Terceira.  "Pecoa"  is  now  Pico. 


64       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

as  he  was  forced  to  confess  the  Vessel  was  hardly  in  a  state 
to  proceed.  But  the  Supercargo  would  not  be  prevailed  on. 
We  sailed  sixteen  or  eighteen  miles  along  the  Island,  but  not 
the  side  on  which  the  town  and  harbour  stand.  We  saw 
however  some  noble  churches  and  convents,  and  a  prodigious 
number  of  Vineyards.  This  Island  is  famous  thro'  the  West 
Indies  and  America  for  its  wine,  which  is  a  sort  of  weak 
Madeira ;  much  better  than  that  we  have  from  Teneriff,  and 
I  wonder  we  do  not  often  get  it  at  home,  as  they  tell  me  it 
sells  amazingly  cheap.  We  have  got  clear  of  the  Islands,  and 
with  a  heavy  heart  once  more  lost  sight  of  land,  and  are 
again  to  sup  on  Lobscourse. 

I  have  not  had  it  in  my  power  to  take  up  my  pen  these 
five  days,*  As  we  have  had  another  terrible  tempest  after 
our  fine  weather.  It  began  about  two  that  morning  after  we 
got  thro'  the  Azores ;  that  we  were  thro',  was  a  most  happy 
circumstance,  for  had  it  happened  while  we  were  amongst 
them,  I  had  not  now  been  informing  you  of  it.  We  have 
reason  however  to  fear  that  tho'  we  are  safe,  much  mischief 
has  happened.  I  will  not  give  you  a  minute  description  of 
this  storm,  because  it  so  much  resembled  the  other;  with  the 
addition  of  the  most  terrible  thunder  and  lightning  that  ever 
were  seen.  All  our  temporary  repairs  are  destroyed,  we  have 
not  a  stick  standing,  nor  a  rag  of  sail  to  put  up,  and  we  lie 
tumbling  amongst  the  waves.  All  hands  are  employed  in 
making  sails,  our  Smiths  and  Carpenter  busy  patching  our 
bitts  of  timber,  so  as  to  make  something  like  Masts,  which 
however  were  not  yet  put  up.  When  we  were  sailing  by,  the 
Boyn,  a  King's  ship  of  seventy  four  guns,  bore  down  on  us 
to  inquire  for  her  consort  from  whom  she  was  parted  in  the 
late  storm,  and  we  found  she  had  troops  on  board  for  Boston. 
She  is  a  beautiful  ship,  but  the  pleasure  of  looking  at  her 
was  all  the  advantage  we  gained  by  the  meeting,  for  tho'  she 

*  Five  days  have  elapsed. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         65 

saw  us  in  a  merchant  Ship,  belonging  to  her  own  country,  in 
the  utmost  distress,  tho'  we  begged  her  to  let  us  only  have 
a  few  spare  sticks,  of  which  no  doubt  she  had  enough,  yet 
they  refused  to  let  us  have  one,  tho'  they  had  every  reason 
to  believe  that  we  would  never  reach  our  destined  port.  I 
know  not  the  Captain's  name,  but  whoever  commanded  the 
Boyn  in  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  four,  on 
the  third  of  December,  is  an  exception  to  the  character  I 
formerly  gave  of  Sailors.* 

The  meeting  this  Ship  has  introduced  politicks.  The 
supercargo  is  from  Boston  a  republican  and  violent  Ameri-  > 
can,  and  tho'  we  consider  him  as  a  very  silly  fellow,  you 
cannot  think  how  much  we  feel  the  ridicule  with  which  he 
treats  our  dilatory  conduct.  God  grant  that  what  this  fool 
says  may  not  prove  at  last  too  true. 

*  The  incident  of  meeting  the  Boyne  offers  the  only  serious  difficulty 
that  we  have  encountered  in  reconciling  the  statements  of  the  journal  with 
the  evidence  from  other  sources.  Miss  Schaw  says  definitely  that  they  met  the 
Boyne  on  December  3,  the  log  of  the  Boyne  says  with  equal  definiteness  that 
that  vessel  "spoke  a  brigg  for  Antigo  com'd  from  Leith"  on  November  17, 
a  discrepancy  of  more  than  two  weeks.  Either  Miss  Schaw  is  wrong  in  her 
date  or  the  entry  in  the  log  concerns  another  vessel  than  the  Jamaica  Packet. 
The  former  is  the  more  likely  explanation,  as  the  Boyne  "saw  Cape  Ann," 
that  is,  the  coast  of  Massachusetts,  on  December  7,  which  would  have  been 
impossible  had  she  been  seen  by  the  packet  on  December  3. 

The  captain  of  the  Boyne,  whom  Miss  Schaw  so  vigorously  condemns, 
was  Broderick  Hartwell.  Had  she  and  others  on  the  packet,  particularly  that 
violent  republican,  the  supercargo,  though  aware  that  the  Boyne  was  taking 
soldiers  to  America,  foreseen  the  part  that  those  soldiers  were  to  play  in 
American  history,  they  might  have  been  more  lively  in  their  comments.  The 
Boyne,  the  Asia,  which  carried  Major  Pitcairn,  and  the  Somerset,  which  was 
the  consort  referred  to,  were  transporting  the  marine  detachments  that  fought 
in  the  battles  of  Lexington,  Concord,  and  Bunker  Hill.  Miss  Schaw,  without 
realizing  it,  had  witnessed  a  significant  event  in  the  history  of  the  American 
Revolution. 

Oddly  enough,  "little  Billie"  was  gazing  at  a  vessel  bearing  the  same 
name  as  that  on  which  he  was  to  serve  as  acting  lieutenant  in  1794,  nineteen 
years  later.  The  Boyne  of  1774  was  a  third-rate  of  74  guns  and  300  men; 
that  of  1794  was  the  flagship  of  Sir  John  Jervis  (afterwards  Admiral  Earl 
St.  Vincent),  a  second-rate  of  98  guns  and  772  men,  which  was  commis- 
sioned in  1792  and  sailed  from  England  with  "little  Billie"  on  board  in 
November,  1793. 


66       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  have  been  all  this  morning  on  deck,  hard  at  work  with 
the  new  sails.  I  never  saw  any  thing  so  neat  and  handy  as 
our  Johns.  Every  man  appeared  with  his  clew  of  thread,  his 
sail  needle  and  his  thimble,  which  he  properly  terms  his 
palm,  as  it  is  worn  in  the  palm  of  the  hand,  fastened  over 
the  back  with  a  strap  of  leather.  With  this  he  works  as 
cleverly  as  any  sempstress  with  her  needle.  We  will  soon 
look  very  clean  and  neat,  but  you  cannot  think  how  much 
we  are  ashamed  to  enter  the  Islands  with  our  humble  masts, 
I  wish  to  God  we  were  there  however;  the  appearance  we 
make  will  give  me  little  pain. 

Congratulate  me,  my  friend,  we  are  at  length  got  into  the 
long  looked  for  wind.  It  met  us  this  morning  about  four 
o'clock;  what  a  relief  to  our  poor  Sailors,  who  will  now  have 
nothing  to  do,  but  dance,  sing  and  make  love  to  the  lasses, 
but  let  them  beware  of  little  Marion;  her  uncle's  eye  is  never 
off  her,  and  honest  John  [Lawson]  has  an  hand  that  would 
fell  an  Ox. 

By  the  observation  just  taken,  we  will  cross  the  Tropick 
[of  Cancer]  in  about  thirty  hours.  We  see  a  number  of 
Tropical  birds,  and  have  every  reason  to  believe  this  calcula- 
tion just,  and  as  we  are  now  approaching  a  new  World,  we 
have  also  reason  to  look  for  new  objects.  And  indeed  the 
Sea,  the  Sky,  and  every  thing  seem  to  change  their  appear- 
ance. The  moon  is  ten  times  more  bright  than  in  your  North- 
ern hemisphere,  and  attended  by  a  number  of  Stars,  each  of 
whom  may  claim  a  superior  title,  and  pass  for  sparkling 
suns.  The  beauty  of  the  evenings  is  past  all  description,  and 
tho'  the  days  are  rather  warm,  yet  we  feel  less  inconveniency 
than  one  could  believe.  By  the  help  of  an  awning  we  are  able 
to  sit  on  the  deck,  where  I  now  write.  Every  moment  gives 
us  something  to  amuse  our  fancy  or  excite  our  curiosity;  the 
colour  of  the  water  is  now  a  bright  azure  blue,  and  at  night 
all  round  the  Ship  seems  on  fire.  This  fire  is  like  globules, 
that  tho'  larger,  bear  a  resemblance  to  those  produced  by 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         67 

Electricity,  and  I  dare  say  is  an  effect  of  the  same  kind  from 
the  strong  salts  of  this  vast  Ocean. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  wat'ry  world  seem  to  bid  us  wel- 
come; the  Sea  appears  quite  populous,  droves  of  porpuses, 
like  flocks  of  Sheep,  pass  close  by  us.  They  have  a  droll  gait 
and  keep  a  tumbling,  as  if  they  proposed  playing  tricks  for 
our  diversion.  The  dolphin  is  a  most  beautiful  fish ;  his  skin 
resembles  that  of  a  Mackerel,  but  the  colours  more  strong, 
and  when  he  rises  out  of  the  water,  he  appears  all  over  green 
and  like  burnished  gold.  His  prey  is  the  flying  fish,  which, 
when  pursued,  rise  out  of  the  water,  and  keep  flying  while 
the  fins,  which  answer  for  their  wings,  are  wet,  but  the  in- 
stant that  they  dry,  they  drop  down,  by  which  means  they 
often  fall  down  on  the  deck.  We  have  eat  some,  and  I  have 
preserved  some  for  your  inspection.  We  have  another  fish 
called  pilot  fish,*  which  eats  much  like  our  whibers.  These 
greedily  take  the  bait,  and  we  would  get  them  in  plenty,  had 
they  not  such  friendships  as  make  them  almost  superior  to 
the  Arts  of  men ;  for  the  moment  one  is  hooked,  others  come 
round  him,  and  if  you  are  not  very  quick  they  bite  and  nibble 
the  line,  till  they  break  it  thro'  and  let  their  friend  go  free. 
They  have  never  heard  our  human  proverb,  'Avoid  the 
wounded  deer  and  hooked  fish.' 

We  have  had  an  unwieldy  companion  all  this  day  by  the 
Ship,  a  Crampusf  or  small  whale.  He  tumbles  about,  and 
when  we  throw  him  any  thing  overboard,  he  turns  on  his 
back,  and  catches  it  in  a  very  small  mouth. 

The  effect  of  this  fine  weather  appears  in  every  creature, 
even  our  Emigrants  seem  in  a  great  measure  to  have  forgot 
their  sufferings,  and  hope  gives  a  gleam  of  pleasure,  even  to 
the  heart-broken  features  of  Mrs  Lawson  and  if  we  had  any 

*  The  pilot  fish  was  so  called  because  often  seen  with  a  shark,  swimming 
near  a  ship,  from  which  the  sailors  imagined  that  it  acted  as  a  pilot  to  the 
shark. 

t  Grampus. 


68       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

thing  to  eat,  I  really  think  our  present  situation  is  most  de- 
lightful. We  play  at  cards  and  backgammon  on  deck;  the 
sailors  dance  horn  pipes  and  Jigs  from  morning  to  night; 
every  lass  has  her  lad,  and  several  chintz  gowns  have  been 
converted  by  our  little  taylor  into  jackets  for  the  favourite 
swains.  Our  handsome  cooper,  however,  has  been  an  unfor- 
tunate enamorato.  As  he  fixed  his  fancy  on  a  young  wife, 
who  had  a  husband  she  was  very  fond  of,  this  has  produced 
a  commissary  trial,*  to  the  no  small  diversion  of  every  body 
but  the  love-lorn  youth.  It  turned  out  in  proof,  that  for 
several  mornings  as  soon  as  the  husband  was  up,  this  young 
spark  tumbled  into  his  place;  this  was  rather  an  uncere- 
monious method  of  declaring  his  passion,  but  as  he  got  up 
the  first  and  second  time  begging  pardon,  and  laying  the 
blame  on  accident,  the  woman  said  nothing  of  it,  from  which 
I  suppose,  he  concluded,  she  would  not  be  offended  tho'  he 
lay  a  little  longer.  In  this  however  he  was  mistaken.  She  was 
enraged  at  his  insolence  and  flew  to  her  husband  with  a 
terrible  complaint.  This  rough  fellow  had  not  the  patience 
of  our  husbands  of  fashion,  he  presently  went  in  quest  of  the 
lover,  and  would  have  used  him  in  a  very  cruel  manner,  had 
he  not  thrown  himself  into  the  protection  of  the  Cabin,  and 
in  his  own  vindication  protested  that  it  was  accident,  for  as 
their  beds  lay  along  side  of  each  other,  the  ship  heeld  so 
much,  that  he  was  involuntarily  thrown  into  the  other  bed. 
It  was  however  remarkable  that  this  never  happened  when 
the  husband  was  there,  nor  during  all  the  bad  weather,  when 
it  might  more  naturally  have  happened. 

Last  night  was  most  particularly  beautiful.  I  sat  on  the 
deck  till  past  twelve.  The  lustre  of  the  stars,  the  brightness 
of  the  moon,  the  clearness  of  the  sky,  and  the  Sea  washing 
the  side  of  the  Vessel,  for  we  have  now  no  waves,  carried  my 
mind  beyond  itself,  and  I  could  not  refrain  expressing  myself 

*  That  is,  a  mock  divorce  suit.  In  eighteenth  century  Scottish  law  a  com- 
missary court  was  a  probate  and  divorce  court. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         69 

in  the  language  of  the  psalmist:  "When  I  look  up  into  the 
heavens  which  thou  hast  made,  and  unto  the  moon  and  stars, 
which  thou  hast  ordained,  then  say  I,  what  is  man  that  thou 
shouldst  remember  him,  or  the  son  of  man  that  thou  regard- 
est  him."  Certainly  Man  appears  but  a  very  small  part  of  the 
creation,  when  compared  with  these  grand  works,  yet  that 
he  is  the  favourite,  still  greater  proofs  have  been  given,  than 
even  the  creating  these  glorious  Luminaries  for  his  use  and 
pleasure.  I  think  it  is  not  possible  to  look  at  these  without 
recollecting  what  we  are  told  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth ;  what  that  is,  we  cannot  conceive,  neither  could  I  have 
formed  the  least  idea  of  the  glory  of  the  firmament  that 
canopies  this  part  of  the  world. 

We  have  now  thrown  off  our  ship-dress  and  wear  muslin 
Jackets  and  chip  hats :  that  however  is  not  so  wonderful,  as 
our  lying  under  a  single  Holland  sheet,  and  even  that  too 
much.  We  have  got  a  window  cut  into  our  state  room  from 
the  Companion  stair.  This  is  shaded  with  nothing  but  a  thin 
lawn  curtain,  yet  is  too  warm.  The  people  from  the  Steerage 
ly  on  deck,  the  boys  will  no  longer  go  into  bed,  but  sleep  on 
the  Sea-chests,  yet  this  is  the  month  of  December. 

We  find  ourselves  greatly  the  better  of  bathing  which  we 
do  every  morning  in  a  large  cask  prepared  for  the  purpose. 
Tis  a  very  solemn  ceremony ;  when  we  are  to  leave  the  cabin 
in  our  bathing  dress,  all  the  people  quit  the  deck,  and  remain 
below  till  we  return. 

My  brother  is  now  quite  well,  and  would  eat  if  he  could 
get  it ;  he  has  lost  a  good  deal  of  his  English  beef,  but  looks 
very  well  notwithstanding.  Fanny  is  in  great  beauty,  she  has 
improved  amazingly  with  her  Sea- Voyage.  This  is  a  long 
letter  and  it  is  time  to  give  both  you  and  me  rest. 

We  are  now  fairly  under  the  Tropick  and  are  preparing 
for  a  farce  that  is  played  on  this  occasion  by  every  ship  that 
goes  to  or  fro  under  the  Tropick.  It  is,  it  seems,  a  sort  of 
Mason  word,  and  till  I  am  admitted  in  form,  I  must  not 


jo       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

appear  to  know  it.  I  shall  therefore  only  tell  you  that  we 
have  been  made  to  expect  a  visit  from  old  Tropicus  and  his 
ancient  dame.  He  is  a  wizard  and  she  a  witch  who  inhabit  an 
invisible  Island  in  these  Seas,  and  have  a  privilege  of  raising 
contributions  from  every  Ship  that  passes  their  dominions, 
only  however  from  such  as  never  was  that  way  before.  But 
my  account  is  cut  short  by  the  appearance  of  the  Actors,  who 
are  dressed  for  their  parts.  Tropicus  is  performed  by  an  old 
rough  dog  of  a  Tar,  who  needs  very  little  alteration  to  be- 
come a  callaban  in  mind  and  body,  but  his  wife  is  played 
by  a  very  handsome  fellow,  who  is  completely  transformed. 
Every  body  is  below  waiting,  in  trembling  expectation,  and 
no  wonder,  for  an  awful  ceremony  this  Visitation  is.  Tropick 
the  Island  was  no  sooner  seen,  than  the  Jolly  boat*  was  taken 
down,  on  pretence  of  going  with  the  Captain  aboard  it  to 
meet  him,  but  in  fact  to  be  filled  full  of  pump  water  for  a 
use  you  shall  hear  by  and  by.  This  being  done  Tropick  is 
spoke  to  thro'  the  trumpet,  and  with  a  hollow  voice  demands 
what  strangers  are  aboard.  All  this  the  people  below  hear, 
and  tho'  many  of  the  Emigrants  appear  sensible,  yet  all 
Highlanders  and  Islanders  are  so  superstitious,  that  they 
may  be  easily  imposed  on,  in  such  a  thing  as  this ;  and  they 
were  completely  so.  The  wizard  now  ordered  them  to  be 
brought  up,  one  by  one  blindfolded  and  their  hands  bound 
behind  them;  such  was  their  fear,  that  they  suffered  this  to 
be  done  without  dispute.  In  this  situation,  they  were  to 
answer  certain  questions  which  he  put  to  them ;  if  they  spoke 
strictly  truth,  then  he  shaved  them,  took  a  small  gratuity 
for  his  trouble,  gave  them  his  benediction,  and  let  them  pass. 

*  The  jolly  boat  was  generally  slung  at  the  stern  of  the  vessel. 

Regarding  the  "awful  ceremony,"  the  author  of  A  Brief  Account  of  the 
Island  of  Antigua  (1789),  who  made  the  voyage  from  the  Downs  to  Antigua 
in  1786,  says,  "I  had  almost  forgot  to  observe  that  on  passing  the  tropic  of 
Cancer,  the  old  custom  of  ducking  and  shaving  such  as  have  not  before 
crossed  it,  was  performed  by  the  seamen  with  some  humour  on  one  man  and 
two  boys.  The  passengers  waved  the  ceremony  by  a  liquor  fine"  (p.  5). 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         7 1 

But  if  they  disguised  or  concealed  the  truth,  which  he  was 
supposed  perfectly  to  know,  then  he  tumbled  them  into  the 
Sea,  where  they  perished.  Prepossessed  with  this  idea,  a  poor 
lad  was  brought  before  the  infernal  Judge:  "Answer  me," 
said  he  sternly,  "answer  me  truth;  what  made  you  leave 
home1?"  "O  troth  sir,  I  dina  well  ken":  "but  you  must 
know,"  said  he,  "so  answer  me  instantly."  "O  Dear,  O  Lord ! 
I  think  it  was,  because  so  many  were  going,  I  did  not  like  to 
stay  behind."  "And  pray  what  are  you  good  for  in  this  world, 
to  prevent  me  sending  you  to  the  next?"  "Trouth,  an  please 
your  honour,  e'en  very  little."  "What,"  said  he,  with  a 
voice  like  thunder,  "are  you  good  for  nothing*?"  "O  yes,  yes, 
I  am  no  very  ill  at  the  small  fishing."  As  this  young  man  did 
not  seem  to  overrate  his  own  merits,  the  wizard  was  satisfied, 
placed  him  on  the  side  of  the  boat,  which  he  believed  was 
the  ship,  being  still  blind  folded  and  bound.  The  wizard 
began  to  shave  him  with  a  notched  stick  and  pot-black.  The 
sharp  notches  soon  brought  blood,  and  the  poor  devil  starting 
from  the  pain,  tumbled  into  the  boat  amongst  the  water,  and 
thinking  it  the  sea,  roared  with  terror.  And  in  this  consisted 
the  whole  wit  of  the  entertainment.  He  was  now  unbound 
and  restored  to  the  light  and  as  keen  to  bring  in  his  neigh- 
bours, who  one  by  one,  went  thro'  the  same  operation.  As 
soon  as  it  was  over,  custom  licences  the  sailors  to  treat  the 
officers  with  every  degree  of  freedom,  nor  do  they  fail  to  take 
the  opportunity.  The  Cap*,  mates,  supercargo  and  all  were 
chaced  round  and  round,  and  drenched  in  the  water  from 
the  boat,  which  they  threw  at  them  in  bucket-fulls. 

We  had  now  got  to  the  Cabin,  and  believed  all  was  over, 
when  a  loud  screaming  on  deck  brought  us  up  to  see  what  was 
the  matter,  and  we  found  our  Cap1  had  begun  to  act  a 
tragedy  after  our  comedy,  and  to  oblige  these  poor  ruined 
creatures  to  pay  five  shillings  for  each,  or  be  pulled  up  to  a 
mast  and  from  that  plunged  down  to  the  Sea.  This  was  a  sum 
impossible  to  be  raised,  and  the  poor  women  were  running 


72       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

with  what  remained  of  their  cloths  to  give  in  place  of  it  to 
save  their  husbands  and  fathers.  Amongst  others  Marion 
was  going  with  all  speed,  with  her  aunt's  popline  gown ;  but 
it  was  needless,  for  John  Lawson  now  stood  at  bay,  his  fist 
clinched  and  swearing  by  the  great  God,  that  the  first  man 
that  touched  him  had  not  another  moment  to  live,  nor  was 
there  one  hardy  enough  to  encounter  a  fist,  which  had  not  its 
fellow  on  board.  But  this  was  not  the  case  with  others,  and 
they  had  one  man  tied,  and  only  waited  to  see,  if  his  wife 
had  as  many  moveables  as  to  save  his  life,  for  he  was  a  poor 
weak  old  man,  and  would  not  have  agreed  with  this  method 
of  bathing.  I  never  in  my  life  saw  my  brother  in  such  a  pas- 
sion ;  he  swore  solemnly,  that  the  moment  he  got  to  land,  he 
would  raise  a  prosecution  against  the  Cap*,  who  pleaded 
that  it  was  the  custom,  and  only  intended  as  a  little  drink 
money  to  the  sailors.  If  that  is  the  case,  replied  my  brother, 
let  them  give  up  their  cloths,  and  they  shall  be  satisfied.* 
This  was  complied  with  cheerfully,  he  gave  them  what  they 
were  satisfied  with,  to  which  they  returned  three  cheers,  as 
he  went  to  the  cabin  and  serenaded  us  with  the  favourite 
song, 

O  grog  is  the  liquor  of  life 

The  delight  of  each  free  British  tar. 

We  are  now  in  the  constant  look  out  for  land ;  dear  hope, 
how  agreeably  you  fill  the  mind :  yet  what  do  I  hope  ?  I  have 
no  friend  to  meet,  no  fond  parent  to  receive  me  with  joy,  no 
— but  away  gloomy  ideas — why  I  hope  once  more  to  stand 
on  Terra  firma,  which  by  the  bye,  I  cannot  be  said  to  do  on 
an  Island. 

I  do  not  find  the  heat  encreases  since  the  first  few  days. 
Indeed  the  constant  soft  wind  cools  the  air,  and  renders  even 
the  day  agreeable.  We  have  discovered  that  they  have 

*  Evidently  meaning  that  if  the  sailors  would  give  up  their  claim  to  the 
clothes  of  the  emigrants,  he  (Mr.  Schaw)  would  pay  for  their  grog. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         73 

brought  a  quantity  of  Bristol  beer  out  for  Sale.  This  they 
concealed  till  we  were  in  the  West  India  climate,  as  they 
supposed  till  then  we  would  not  give  them  the  price,  which 
is  no  less  than  two  shillings  a  bottle,  and  which  we  pay  with 
pleasure.  We  see  new  birds  every  day,  and  observe  a  greater 
variety  of  fishes,  but  have  seen  no  turtle,  since  that  near  the 
Azores.  Every  thing  flatters  us  with  the  hope  of  Land,  yet  if 
you  saw  our  state  room,  you  would  suppose  we  designed  to 
continue  in  it  for  years.  It  is  decked  out  with  a  toilet,  pic- 
tures and  mirror;  so  calm  is  the  Sea,  that  the  things  never 
move.  How  soon  are  our  sorrows  forgot;  the  Sailors  that 
were  lately  damning  the  Elements  and  grudging  their  duty, 
now  wonder  how  any  man  can  be  such  a  Luber  [lubber],  as 
to  stay  at  land;  and  I  find  myself  a  little  in  the  same  way  of 
thinking,  and  am  happy  I  have  come  abroad  to  see  the  world ; 
tho'  God  knows  I  have  seen  but  a  small  and  disagreeable  part 
of  it.  My  travels  have  been  to  the  moon  and  stars.  The  sun 
is  too  bright  and  too  warm  for  me,  and  as  for  the  earth,  I 
have  seen  none  of  it  since  I  left  Scotland ;  I  only  smelt  it  off 
the  African  Islands.  Land,  Land,  joyful  sound,  we  are  in 
sight  of  land,  the  infants  are  clapping  their  little  hands,  and 
the  very  cat  is  frisking  about  for  joy. 

Just  as  we  finished  supper  last  night,  I  was  going  on  deck, 
when  the  first  thing  that  struck  me  was  the  sight  of  land, 
which  I  should  not  have  known,  had  I  not  formerly  seen  it 
in  the  same  figure  at  the  Azores.  "Is  not  that  land*?"  said  I 
to  the  man  at  the  helm,  "Yes,"  said  he,  squirting  out  his  quid 
of  Tobacco  with  great  composure,  "as  soon  as  the  mate  will 
come  up,  I  will  shew  it  to  him."  I  did  not  wait  that  cere- 
mony, but  turning  round  to  the  Cabin,  exclaimed  as  loud  as 
I  was  able,  "Land,  Land !"  Every  body  run  up,  such  a  whis- 
tling of  joy,  and  such  a  shaking  of  hands.  There  was  no  doubt 
it  was  Antigua.  No  body  thought  of  bed,  but  what  will  sur- 
prize you,  Fanny  in  the  midst  of  this  joy  was  quite  melan- 
choly, she  never  considered  herself  as  really  out  of  Scotland, 


74       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

till  now  that  she  was  soon  to  be  on  another  land,  and  this 
thought  affected  her  so  much,  that  she  is  quite  sick. 

I  was  already  on  deck  to  see  the  lead  thrown,  to  sound  our 
depths,  the  colour  of  the  water  has  already  begun  to  change 
to  a  lighter  blue,  and  in  a  little  time  became  quite  green  like 
that  at  Leith.  You  remember  how  much  Ossian  was  criticised 
for  calling  the  Sea  blue  and  the  stars  green,  but  that  is  truly 
the  appearance  they  have,  when  sufficiently  distant  from 
land.  We  soon  had  a  pilot  on  board,  who  with  his  black 
assistants,  brought  us  round  the  rocks  at  the  utmost  points 
of  Antigua.  The  beauty  of  the  Island  rises  every  moment  as 
we  advance  towards  the  bay;  the  first  plantations  we  ob- 
served were  very  high  and  rocky,  but  as  we  came  farther  on, 
they  appeared  more  improved,  and  when  we  got  into  the  bay, 
which  runs  many  miles  up  the  Island,  it  is  out  of  my  power 
to  paint  the  beauty  and  the  Novelty  of  the  scene.  We  had 
the  Island  on  both  sides  of  us,  yet  its  beauties  were  different, 
the  one  was  hills,  dales  and  groves,  and  not  a  tree,  plant  or 
shrub  I  had  ever  seen  before;  the  ground  is  vastly  uneven, 
but  not  very  high ;  the  sugar  canes  cover  the  hills  almost  to 
the  top,  and  bear  a  resemblance  in  colour  at  least  to  a  rich 
field  of  green  wheat;  the  hills  are  skirted  by  the  Palmetto  or 
Cabbage  tree,  which  even  from  this  distance  makes  a  noble 
appearance.  The  houses  are  generally  placed  in  the  Valleys 
between  the  hills,  and  all  front  to  the  sea.  We  saw  many  fine 
ones.  There  were  also  some  fine  walks  along  the  Shore  shaded 
by  different  trees,  of  which  I  am  yet  ignorant.  Will  you  not 
smile,  if  after  this  description,  I  add  that  its  principal  beauty 
to  me  is  the  resemblance  it  has  to  Scotland,  yes,  to  Scotland, 
and  not  only  to  Scotland  in  general,  but  to  the  Highlands  in 
particular.  I  found  out  a  Dunkeld  in  one  of  these  walks,* 

*  Dunkeld  is  a  town  in  Perthshire  on  the  west  branch  of  the  Tay.  It  was 
formerly  the  home  of  the  Duchess  of  Atholl  (p.  243)  and  quite  possibly  had 
been  at  one  time  the  home  of  Miss  Schaw.  The  scenery,  both  above  and 
below  the  town,  was  greatly  admired. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         75 

nor  do  I  think  the  birches  there  inferior  in  beauty  to  the 
myrtles  here. 

The  other  side  exhibits  quite  a  different  scene,  as  the 
ground  is  almost  level,  a  long  tongue  of  land  runs  into  the 
Sea,  covered  with  rich  pasture,  on  which  a  number  of  cattle 
feed.  At  the  farther  end  of  this  Peninsula  is  a  fort  which 
receives  the  compliments  from  the  Ships,  and  has  a  fee  from 
them.  After  we  passed  this  point,  we  saw  some  very  rich 
plantations,  all  inclosed  by  hedges,  but  of  what  kind  I  know 
not.  The  next  object  that  engaged  our  attention,  was  a  high 
rock,  on  the  sides  of  which  grew  a  vast  number  of  Oranges 
and  lemons.  At  the  top  is  a  large  building,  which,  our  Pilot 
tells  us,  is  the  Old  Barracks.*  This  Barracks  is  able  to  con- 
tain a  thousand  Men.  But  they  had  now  built  another,  far- 
ther up  the  Island,  and  one  half  was  gone  there.  We  saw  a 
number  of  the  officers  walking  among  the  Orange-trees  and 
myrtles,  and  I  own  I  thought  the  prospect  was  mended  by 
their  appearance. 

We  have  cast  Anchor  at  about  a  mile  or  little  more  from 
the  town  of  S*  John's,  which  we  have  in  full  view.  It  lies  up 
a  hill,  and  is  certainly  a  fine  town,  but  the  houses  are  low, 
and  have  no  chimneys,  so  that  at  this  distance,  it  does  not 
make  a  grand  appearance;  tho'  I  dare  say  it  will  mend,  when 
we  come  nearer  to  it.f 

*  The  author  of  the  Brief  Account  says,  "The  new  barracks  and  military 
hospital,  situated  to  the  eastward  of  the  town,  are  spacious  and  healthy  and 
allowed  to  be  the  most  complete  in  the  islands.  There  is  also  a  barrack  on 
Rat  Island,  in  St.  John's  Harbour,  but  it  has  been  suffered  to  go  to  ruin  and 
is  now  [1786]  out  of  use."  The  "high  rock,"  to  which  Miss  Schaw  refers  is 
Rat  Island;  the  barracks  there,  built  in  1754-1755,  were  evidently  occupied 
at  the  time  of  her  arrival,  for  the  new  barracks  could  hardly  have  been  com- 
pleted in  1774.  According  to  Sir  Ralph  Payne,  governor  at  this  time,  the  bar- 
racks contained  four  companies  of  the  2d  Battalion  of  Royal  Americans, 
exceedingly  incomple/e  as  to  numbers,  since  they  amounted  to  not  more  than 
87  or  88  effective  men.  These  companies  had  come  to  the  island  in  1772, 
replacing  the  68th  Regiment  of  Foot,  which  had  been  there  since  1764.  The 
fort  is  James  Fort  erected  in  1700,  now  dismantled  and  used  as  a  quarantine 
station. 

f  Antigua  is  one  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  forty  miles  east  of  Nevis  and 


76       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

My  brother  and  the  Captain  are  gone  ashore,  the  one  to 
enter  his  ship  at  the  custom  house,  the  other  to  deliver  his 
letters,  and  provide  decent  lodgings  for  us  in  the  town.  Miss 
Rutherfurd  has  been  extremely  ill  all  the  morning;  she  has 
not  enjoyed  nor  indeed  seen  the  scene  I  have  been  describing, 
as  she  was  forced  to  keep  below.  She  is  now  better,  and  from 
the  Cabin  window  has  a  fine  view  of  the  Island,  town  and 
shipping,  of  which  a  vast  number  lie  round  us.  I  take  this 
opportunity  of  writing  you  once  more  aboard  the  Jamaica 
Packet,  which  I  am  to  quit  to  morrow,  at  least  for  some  time. 

I  hear  a  boat  along  side,  I  hope  it  is  my  brother,  and  that 
he  has  brought  us  something  for  Supper. 

The  boat  did  not  bring  my  brother  on  board,  but  a  card 
to  let  us  know  he  was  engaged  by  company,  and  could  not 
come  aboard  that  evening.  This  boat  was  freighted  with  the 
hospitality  and  politeness  of  the  natives,  who  no  sooner 
understood  there  were  ladies  on  board,  than  they  sent  us 
whatever  the  Island  could  afford,  and  which  indeed  surpasses 
whatever  I  saw  of  the  kind.  Pine  apples,  Shadocks,  oranges, 
grapes,  guinea  fowls  and  excellent  milk.  This  last  was  of  all 
others,  to  my  young  friends,  the  highest  treat.  We  drank  Tea 
and  supped  in  luxury ;  that,  you  must  be  five  weeks  starved, 
before  you  can  understand.  We  have  been  just  seven  weeks 

twenty-seven  miles  from  Montserrat.  Its  chief  town,  St.  John's,  was  not 
incorporated  until  July,  1783. 

The  best  contemporary  description  of  the  island  is  that  contained  in  Sir 
Ralph  Payne's  "Answers  to  Queries,"  written  on  June  26,  1774,  just  three 
months  before  the  lady's  arrival.  "Antigua  is  in  its  greatest  extent  about  14 
miles  in  length  and  in  its  narrowest  breadth  about  5  miles.  Its  highest  hills 
are  to  the  southward,  but  it  is  in  general  by  no  means  a  mountainous  island. 
It  contains  69,277  acres  and  108  square  miles  and  l/$.  The  soil  on  the  north 
side  is  a  black  mould  or  marie,  and  to  the  southward  a  strong  clay.  The 
body  of  the  island  lies  in  latitude  17"  10'  and  its  longitude  from  the  meridian 
of  London  is  60  degrees  west.  The  climate  of  Antigua  a,s  well  as  of  the  other 
Leeward  Islands,  is  between  the  Tropics  under  the  Torrid  Zone,  and  like 
the  other  islands  would  be  insufferably  warm,  were  it  not  for  almost  constant 
breezes  that  blow  chiefly  from  the  eastward,  and  render  it  healthy  and  agree- 
able" (Public  Record  Office,  C.  O.  152:54,  no.  17).  The  number  of  its  white 
inhabitants  in  1774  was  about  2590,  of  blacks  37,308. 


THE  VOYAGE  TO  THE  WEST  INDIES         77 

on  our  passage,*  so  that  after  all  we  ought  to  be  satisfied; 
for  that  was  no  bad  passage.  This  is  a  delightful  evening,  I 
hope  to  have  a  sound  sleep,  wishing  you  good  night,  I  will 
go  to  my  state  room  once  more. 

*  October  25  to  December  12. 


CHAPTER    II. 

Antigua  and  St.  Christopher. 


S1  John's  Decr  12th  1774. 


A  WRITE  now  on  land,  but  my  head  is  so  giddy,  that  I 
can't  believe  I  am  yet  on  shore,  nor  can  I  stand  more  than  I 
did  on  Shipboard;  every  thing  seems  to  move  in  the  same 
manner  it  did  there.  They  tell  me  however,  I  will  get  the 
better  of  this  in  twenty  four  hours. 

My  brother  came  on  board  this  morning  with  some  Gentle- 
men, and  carried  us  ashore.  Every  thing  was  as  new  to  me, 
as  if  I  had  been  but  a  day  old.  We  landed  on  a  very  fine 
Wharf  belonging  to  a  Scotch  Gentleman,  who  was  with  us. 
We  proceeded  to  our  lodgings  thro'  a  narrow  lane;  as  the 
Gentleman  told  us  no  Ladies  ever  walk  in  this  Country. 
Just  as  we  got  into  the  lane,  a  number  of  pigs  run  out  at  a 
door,  and  after  them  a  parcel  of  monkeys.  This  not  a  little 
surprized  me,  but  I  found  what  I  took  for  monkeys  were 
negro  children,  naked  as  they  were  born.  We  now  arrived  at 
our  lodgings,  and  were  received  by  a  well  behaved  woman, 
who  welcomed  us,  not  as  the  Mrs  of  a  Hotel,  but  as  the  hos- 
pitable woman  of  fashion  would  the  guests  she  was  happy  to 
see.  Her  hall  or  parlour  was  directly  off  the  Street.  Tho'  not 
fine,  it  was  neat  and  cool,  and  the  windows  all  thrown  open. 
A  Negro  girl  presented  us  with  a  glass  of  what  they  call 
Sangarie,*  which  is  composed  of  Madeira,  water,  sugar  and 

*  Sangaree  was  a  tropical  drink,  known  also  to  the  people  of  the  Carolinas. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  79 

lime  juice,  a  most  refreshing  drink.  She  had  with  her  two 
Ladies,  the  one  a  good  plain  looking  girl,  who  I  soon  dis- 
covered was  her  Niece;  but  it  was  sometime  before  I  could 
make  out  the  other.  The  old  Lady*  told  us,  she  had  been 
married  to  a  Scotsman,  whose  memory  was  so  dear  to  her, 
that  she  loved  his  whole  country.  She  paid  us  some  very 
genteel  compliments,  and  with  great  seeming  sincerity,  ex- 
pressed the  joy  it  gave  her  to  have  us  in  her  house.  She  was 
much  prepossessed  in  my  brother's  favour,  who  was  now 
gone  out  with  many  of  the  people  in  office.  "I  know,"  said 
she,  "every  body  will  love  you,  and  that  I  will  be  able  to 
keep  you  but  a  very  little  while,  but  I  beg  that  you  will  let 
this  be  your  head  quarters,  while  on  the  Island."  The  good 
Lady  said  a  great  deal,  but  so  much  benevolence  appeared 
in  every  look,  that  I  am  induced  to  believe  her  sincere.  I 
shall  be  sorry  if  she  is  not,  for  I  am  already  greatly  pleased 
with  her. 

It  was  sometime  before  I  was  able  to  make  out  who  the 
other  Lady  was,  whom  we  found  with  Mrs  Dunbar,  for  so 
she  is  called.  The  loveliness  of  her  person,  her  youth  and  the 
modesty  of  her  manners,  together  with  the  respect  she  paid 
the  Old  Lady,  made  me  at  first  take  her  for  her  daughter,  but 
I  soon  discovered  that  her  husband  was  a  member  of  the 
Council,  and  that  she  waited  his  return  from  the  Council- 
board,  to  carry  her  to  her  house,  a  few  miles  up  the  country. 
There  was  something  in  this  young  Lady  so  engaging,  that  it 

There  were  other  combinations  than  that  mentioned  by  Miss  Schaw,  but  the 
ingredients  were  always  liquor,  water,  and  spices.  Brandy  was  sometimes 
substituted  for  wine. 

*  The  "old  lady"  was  Mrs.  Dunbar,  as  was  also  the  doctor's  wife.  There 
was  no  relationship  between  them.  Dr.  John  Dunbar  (born  1721),  member 
of  the  assembly  until  1775,  graduated  at  Leyden  University  in  1742,  and 
married,  in  Antigua,  Eleanor,  daughter  of  Thomas  Watkins,  who  died  during 
the  hurricane  of  August  31,  1772.  He  married  again,  July  28,  1773,  at  St. 
John's,  Sarah  Warner,  daughter  of  Samuel  H.  Warner,  deputy  provost 
marshal  of  the  island,  a  woman  much  younger  than  himself,  who,  however, 
died  before  he  did,  in  1787.  The  Dunbar  plantation  of  165  acres  was  in  the 
Dickinson  Bay  division,  from  which  the  doctor  was  returned  to  the  assembly. 


8o       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

is  impossible  not  to  wish  to  know  her  better.  Fanny  and  she 
appeared  mutually  pleased  with  each  other.  At  last  I  fortu- 
nately discovered  her  to  be  the  wife  of  my  old  friend  Dr 
Dunbar,  with  whom  I  had  been  well  acquainted  in  Scotland, 
and  who  had  resided  many  months  at  my  father's  house.  We 
were  now  much  pleased  with  our  Company.  Our  Landlady 
gave  us  an  excellent  dinner,  at  which  we  had  one  guest  more, 
a  Cap1  Blair,*  a  very  agreeable  genteel  young  man.  My 
brother  did  not  return,  but  our  young  men  made  up  for  the 
long  Lent  they  had  kept,f  and  Mrs  Dunbar  is  charmed  with 
them.  I  believe  they  have  got  into  good  quarters. 

Our  dinner  consisted  of  many  dishes,  made  up  of  kid, 
lamb,  poultry,  pork  and  a  variety  of  fishes,  all  of  one  shape, 
that  is  flat,  of  the  flounder  or  turbot  kind,  but  differing  from 
each  other  in  taste.  The  meat  was  well  dressed,  and  tho'  they 
have  no  butter  but  what  comes  from  Ireland  or  Britain,  it 
was  sweet  and  even  fresh  by  their  cookery.  There  was  no 
turtle,  which  she  regretted,  but  said  I  would  get  so  much, 
that  I  would  be  surfeited  with  it.  Our  desert  was  superior 
to  our  dinner,  the  finest  fruits  in  the  World  being  there, 
which  we  had  in  profusion.  During  dinner,  our  hostess  who 
presided  at  the  head  of  her  table,  (very  unlike  a  British 
Landlady)  gave  her  hob  and  nob^:  with  a  good  grace.  I 
observed  the  young  Ladies  drank  nothing  but  Lime-juice  and 
water.  They  told  me  it  was  all  the  women  drank  in  general. 
Our  good  landlady  strongly  advised  us  not  to  follow  so  bad 
an  example — that  Madeira  and  water  would  do  no  body 
harm,  and  that  it  was  owing  to  their  method  of  living,  that 

*  Capt.  James  Blair  may  have  been  an  officer  of  the  Royal  American 
battalion,  but  his  name  cannot  be  found  in  any  of  the  printed  or  manuscript 
army  lists. 

f  The  two  boys  must  have  found  the  greater  part  of  the  seven  weeks' 
voyage  a  veritable  Lent. 

J  "Hob  and  nob"  was  to  drink  to  the  health  of  the  company  present.  At 
many  colonial  dinners  it  was  the  custom  for  the  host  to  drink  a  glass  of  wine 
with  everyone  at  the  table. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  81 

they  were  such  spiritless  and  indolent  creatures.  The  ladies 
smiling  replied  that  the  men  indeed  said  so,  but  it  was  cus- 
tom and  every  body  did  it  in  spite  of  the  advices  they  were 
daily  getting.  What  a  tyrant  is  custom  in  every  part  of  the 
world.  The  poor  women,  whose  spirits  must  be  worn  out  by 
heat  and  constant  perspiration,  require  no  doubt  some  restor- 
ative, yet  as  it  is  not  the  custom,  they  will  faint  under  it 
rather  than  trangress  this  ideal  law.  I  will  however  follow 
our  good  Landlady's  advice,  and  as  I  was  resolved  to  shew 
I  was  to  be  a  rebel  to  a  custom  that  did  not  appear  founded 
on  reason,  I  pledged  her  in  a  bumper  of  the  best  Madeira  I 
ever  tasted.  Miss  Rutherfurd  followed  my  example ;  the  old 
Lady  was  transported  with  us,  and  young  Mrs  Dunbar 
politely  said,  that  if  it  was  in  the  power  of  wine  to  give  her 
such  spirits,  and  render  her  half  so  agreeable,  she  was  sorry 
she  had  not  taken  it  long  ago;  but  would  lose  no  more  time, 
and  taking  up  a  glass  mixed  indeed  with  water,  drank  to  us. 
Just  as  we  were  preparing  for  Tea,  my  brother,  Dr  Dun- 
bar,  Mr  Halliday,*  the  Collector,  and  Mr  Baird,  the  comp- 
troller, and  a  very  pretty  young  man  called  Martin  came  to 
us.  Here  was  a  whole  company  of  Scotch  people,  our  lan- 
guage, our  manners,  our  circle  of  friends  and  connections,  all 
the  same.  They  had  a  hundred  questions  to  ask  in  a  breath, 
and  my  general  acquaintance  enabled  me  to  answer  them. 

*  The  Halliday  family  is  of  old  covenanting  stock  and  has  figured  in 
the  history  of  Scotland,  county  Galloway,  since  the  sixteenth  century.  John 
Halliday,  the  collector,  was  born  in  Antigua,  a  nephew  of  William  Dunbar 
and  a  son-in-law  of  Francis  Delap,  both  prominent  residents  of  the  island. 
He  himself  had  no  less  than  seven  plantations  in  the  different  divisions,  the 
two  most  important  of  which  were  "Boons"  in  St.  John's  parish  and 
"Weatherills"  near  by.  He  entered  the  assembly  in  1755,  resigned  in  1757, 
and  was  again  returned  in  1761.  He  occupied  the  position  of  customs  collector 
and  receiver  of  the  four  and  a  half  per  cent  export  duty  from  1759  to  1777, 
an  office  of  importance,  as  the  port  of  St.  John's  was  much  superior  to  its 
only  rival  in  the  island,  Parham. 

Of  Charles  Baird,  the  comptroller,  we  can  give  no  information  beyond 
that  which  Miss  Schaw  furnishes,  though  his  name  is  to  be  found  in  the  offi- 
cial list  of  customs  officials  and  in  Governor  Payne's  "Answers  to  Queries." 


82       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  were  intimates  in  a  moment.  The  old  Doctor  was  trans- 
ported at  seeing  us,  and  presently  joined  his  Lady  in  a  most 
friendly  invitation  to  stay  at  his  house,  which  we  have 
promised  to  do,  as  soon  as  we  get  our  things  ashore.  The 
Collector  has  made  the  same  request,  and  we  are  to  be  at  his 
country-seat  in  a  day  or  two.  Mr  Halliday  is  from  Galloway, 
is  a  man  above  fifty,  but  extremely  genteel  in  his  person  and 
most  agreeable  in  his  manners;  he  has  a  very  great  fortune 
and  lives  with  elegance  and  taste.  His  family  resides  in  Eng- 
land and  he  lives  the  life  of  a  Batchelor.  Mr  Baird  is  a  near 
relation  of  the  Newbeath  family,  is  above  sixty,  far  from 
handsome,  but  appears  to  be  a  most  excellent  creature.  I 
should  suppose  his  connection  had  rather  been  with  Mrs 
Baird,  he  has  so  much  of  her  manner,  her  very  way  of  speak- 
ing. 'Tis  my  opinion  a  mutual  passion  is  begun  between  him 
and  me,  which,  as  it  is  not  raised  on  beauty,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
will  be  lasting.  Young  Martin,  our  hostess,  who  is  very 
frank,  tells  us,  is  a  favourite  of  the  Collector's;  that  he 
stays  always  with  him,  and  that  it  is  supposed  he  intends 
to  resign  in  his  favour.  She  moreover  informed  us,  that  Mr 
Martin  was  much  admired  by  the  Ladies,  but  was  very  hard- 
hearted.* 

*  Samuel  Martin,  the  "young  Martin"  here  mentioned,  was  not  a  son  of 
Colonel  Samuel,  though  he  may  have  been  in  some  way  related  to  him.  That 
there  was  some  family  connection  seems  evident  from  an  agreement  entered 
into  in  1775,  whereby  young  Samuel  bound  himself  to  pay  annuities  to  cer- 
tain members  of  the  Martin  family  (Oliver,  History  of  Antigua,  II,  245). 
At  this  time  he  may  have  been  twenty  or  more  years  of  age,  and,  as  Miss 
Schaw  thought  would  be  the  case,  he  succeeded  Halliday  as  collector  two 
years  later,  serving  until  1795,  when  he  was  retired.  He  was  followed  by 
Josiah,  Colonel  Samuel's  grandson,  who  held  the  office  for  half  a  century. 

For  a  woman  hater,  young  Samuel  had  an  interesting  matrimonial  career. 
In  1777,  the  year  he  was  appointed  collector,  he  married  Grace  Savage, 
daughter  of  George  Savage  of  "Savage  Gardens"  just  outside  St.  John's,  and 
by  her  had  six  children.  She  died,  aged  50,  in  1810,  and  in  1812  he  married 
again,  a  widow,  name  unknown,  by  whom  he  had  five  children  more.  Thus 
he  had  two  wives  and  eleven  children,  which  is  a  little  unexpected,  in  view 
of  Miss  Schaw's  remarks.  He  died  soon  after  1825,  in  England,  whither  he 
had  gone  after  leaving  the  collectorship. 

Young  Martin's  plantation  in  Antigua  was  called  "High  Point"  and  lay  in 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  83 

Tea  being  finished,  the  Dr  and  his  Lady  left  us,  and  we 
surprised  the  Gentlemen,  by  proposing  a  walk  out  of  town. 

This  was  at  first  opposed,  but  on  our  persisting,  Mr  Baird 
swore  we  were  the  finest  creatures  he  had  met  these  twenty 
years.  "Zounds,"  said  he,  taking  my  arm  under  his,  "I  shall 
fancy  myself  in  Scotland."  Our  walk  turned  out  charmingly, 
the  evening  had  now  been  cooled  by  the  sea  breeze,  and  we 
were  not  the  least  incommoded.  We  walked  thro'  a  market 
place,  the  principal  streets,  and  passed  by  a  large  church,  and 
thro'  a  noble  burying  place.  Here  we  read  many  Scotch 
names,  among  others,  that  of  poor  Jock  Trumble*  of  Curry, 
who  died  while  here  with  his  regiment.  A  little  above  the 
town  is  the  new  Barracks,  a  long  large  building,  in  the 
middle  of  a  field.  I  do  not  think  its  situation,  however,  so 
pretty  as  that  of  the  old  Barracks.  A  little  beyond  that  we 
met  a  plantation  belonging  to  a  Lady,  who  is  just  now  in 
England;  from  her  character  I  much  regret  her  absence,  for 
by  all  accounts,  she  is  the  very  soul  of  whim,  a  much  im- 
proved copy  of  Maria  Buchanan,  Mrs  O,  whose  stile,  you 
know,  I  doated  on;  her  house,  for  she  is  a  widow,  is  superb, 
laid  out  with  groves,  gardens  and  delightful  walks  of  Tam- 
arind trees,  which  give  the  finest  shade  you  can  imagine.f 

Here  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  admiring  the 
Palmetto  tree,  with  which  this  Lady's  house  is  surrounded, 
and  entirely  guarded  by  them  from  the  intense  heat.  They 
are  in  general  from  forty  to  sixty  feet  high  before  they  put 
out  a  branch,  and  as  straight  as  a  line.  If  I  may  compare  great 

the  northern  part  of  the  island,  between  Winthrop's  Bay  and  Dutchman's 
Bay  near  the  entrance  to  Parham  Harbor.  He  left  this  plantation  to  William, 
born  in  1816,  his  second  son  by  his  second  wife. 

*  The  "Jock  Trumble"  here  mentioned  was  probably  Lieutenant  John 
Turnbull  of  the  68th  Regiment  of  Foot,  who  died  in  Antigua,  October  5, 
1767,  and  was  buried  on  the  island.  The  name  "Trumbull"  is  but  a  corrupted 
form  of  the  Scottish  "Turnbull,"  and  Scotsmen  tell  us  that  the  name  today 
is  frequently  spelled  "Turnbull"  and  pronounced  "Trumbull." 

fThe  plantation  described  is  Skerretts  alias  Nugents,  situated  about  a 
mile  along  the  road  past  the  barracks. 


84       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

things  with  small,  the  branches  resemble  a  fern  leaf,  but  are 
at  least  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  long.  They  go  round  the  boll 
of  the  tree  and  hang  down  in  the  form  of  an  Umbrela;  the 
great  stem  is  white,  and  the  skin  like  Satin.  Above  the 
branches  rises  another  stem,  of  about  twelve  or  fourteen  feet 
in  height,  coming  to  a  point  at  the  top,  from  which  the  cab- 
bage springs,  tho'  the  pith  or  heart  of  the  whole  is  soft  and 
eats  well.  This  stem  is  the  most  beautiful  green  that  you  can 
conceive,  and  is  a  fine  contrast  to  the  white  one  below.  The 
beauty  and  figure  of  this  tree,  however,  rather  surprised  than 
pleased  me.  It  had  a  stiffness  in  its  appearance  far  from  being 
so  agreeable  as  the  waving  branches  of  our  native  trees,  and 
I  could  not  help  declaiming  that  they  did  not  look  as  if  they 
were  of  God's  making. 

We  walked  thro'  many  cane  pieces,  as  they  term  the  fields 
of  Sugar-canes,  and  saw  different  ages  of  it.  This  has  been  a 
remarkable  fine  season,  and  every  body  is  in  fine  spirits  with 
the  prospect  of  the  Crop  of  Sugar.  You  have  no  doubt  heard 
that  Antigua  has  no  water,*  but  what  falls  in  rain;  A  dry 

*  "Antigua  has  but  one  running  stream  and  that  is  incapable  of  the  least 
navigation"  (Payne  in  "Answers  to  Queries").  Of  the  water  supply  the 
writer  of  the  Brief  Account  says,  "This  island  is  almost  destitute  of  fresh 
springs,  therefore  the  water  principally  used  is  rain,  which  the  inhabitants 
collect  in  stone  cisterns ;  this  water,  after  being  drawn  from  the  reservoir,  is 
filtered  through  a  Barbadoes  stone,  which  renders  it  free  from  animalcula, 
or  any  disagreeable  quality  it  might  have  contracted  by  being  kept  in  the 
tank.  It  is  exceedingly  soft  and  well  flavored  ...  as  good  as  any  I  ever 
tasted  in  Europe"  (pp.  60-61). 

Governor  Payne,  writing  to  Lord  Dartmouth  the  October  before,  gives 
a  description  of  the  island  that  is  equally  flattering  with  that  of  Miss  Schaw. 
"I  have  no  disagreeable  account  of  any  kind  wherewith  I  am  to  trouble  your 
Lordship,  from  any  part  of  my  government.  The  crops  of  the  present  year 
which  are  just  finished  have  in  general  been  very  good ;  and  in  some  of  the 
islands  surpass'd  the  expectations  of  the  planters ;  and  the  present  propitious 
weather  inspires  the  inhabitants  with  sanguine  hopes  of  reaping  a  plentiful 
harvest  in  the  ensuing  year.  There  is  not  in  any  of  the  islands  under  my 
command  any  interruption  to  the  general  harmony  and  tranquillity  which  I 
have  the  satisfaction  of  observing  to  prevail  throughout  every  part  of  my 
government,  from  my  first  entrance  on  my  administration" ;  and  in  January, 
1775»  he  added,  "No  mischievous  sparks  of  the  continental  flame  have  reached 
any  district  of  the  government.  The  trade  of  every  island  of  it  is  most  un- 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  85 

season  therefore  proves  destructive  to  the  crops,  as  the  canes 
require  much  moisture. 

We  returned  from  our  walk,  not  the  least  fatigued,  but 
the  Musquetoes*  had  smelt  the  blood  of  a  British  man,  and 
my  brother  has  his  legs  bit  sadly.  Our  petticoats,  I  suppose, 
guarded  us,  for  we  have  not  as  yet  suffered  from  these  gentry. 
We  supped  quite  agreeably,  but  it  was  quite  in  public.  No 
body  here  is  ashamed  of  what  they  are  doing,  for  all  the 
parlours  are  directly  off  the  street,  and  doors  and  windows 
constantly  open.  I  own  it  appears  droll  to  have  people  come 
and  chat  in  at  the  windows,  while  we  are  at  supper,  and  not 
only  so,  but  if  they  like  the  party,  they  just  walk  in,  take  a 
chair,  and  sit  down.  I  considered  this  as  an  inconveniency 
from  being  in  a  hotel,  but  understand,  that  every  house  is 
on  the  same  easy  footing.  Every  body  in  town  is  on  a  level 
as  to  station,  and  they  are  all  intimately  acquainted,  which 
may  easily  account  for  this  general  hospitality.  The  manner 
of  living  too  is  another  reason.  They  never  fail  to  have  a 

commonly  flourishing.  Provisions  of  all  kinds  from  the  continent  of  America 
are  cheaper  and  more  plentiful  than  they  have  been  in  the  memory  of  man" 
(Public  Record  Office,  C.  O.  152:55). 

*  The  mosquitoes  on  the  American  continent  as  well  as  in  the  West  Indies 
were  a  very  troublesome  novelty  to  Europeans.  The  author  of  the  Brief 
Account  says  of  Antigua,  "The  mosketos  are  troublesome,  but  I  defend  my 
legs  (which  is  the  part  these  insects  principally  attack)  with  boots"  (p.  7). 

As  to  the  continental  colonies,  Boucher  complained  of  mosquitoes  in 
Maryland  {Maryland  Magazine,  March,  1913,  pp.  39-40),  Michel  in  Virginia 
(Virginia  Magazine,  January,  1916,  p.  40),  and  Beverley  of  the  latter  colony 
once  sent  for  Russian  lawn  or  gauze  for  four  large  field  beds,  "being  to  let 
in  the  air  and  keep  out  mosquitoes  and  flies"  (Beverley  Letter  Book).  Peck- 
over,  the  travelling  Quaker  preacher,  says  that  he  was  "taken  with  an  inflama- 
tion  in  my  leg"  in  New  Jersey,  "occasioned  I  think  by  the  Muskittos  biting 
me.  This  is  a  very  flat  country  and  very  subject  to  these  insects"  (Travels). 
In  North  Carolina,  mosquito  nets  were  included  in  inventories  and  invoices, 
and  in  South  Carolina  in  1744,  it  was  proposed  that  the  merchants  in  Eng- 
land send  over  a  large  quantity  of  Scotch  kenting  for  pavilions,  as  it  would 
come  to  a  good  market,  "there  being  at  present  a  great  demand  for  that 
commodity,  the  inhabitants  being  almost  devoured  by  the  mosquitos  for  want 
thereof:"  (South  Carolina  Gazette,  June  6,  1744).  Even  the  Pilgrims  were 
"much  anoyed  with  muskeetoes,"  and  some  of  those  who  returned  before  1624 
made  them  a  subject  of  complaint  against  the  colony.  Bradford's  History 
(Ford  ed.),  I,  366,  and  note. 


86       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

plentiful  table  to  sit  down  to.  My  friend  Baird  does  not  love 
this  freedom  at  all,  neither  does  he  admit  it  at  his  house. 
Indeed  the  custom  house  people  are  not  considered  as  on  the 
same  footing,  and  are  treated  with  more  respect.  I  have  now 
given  you  my  first  day  in  the  West  Indies,  part  of  which  is 
from  observation,  and  part  from  information.  I  will  go  over 
all  the  town  to  morrow,  but  must  now  retire  and  try  if  I  can 
sleep  at  land,  tho'  I  really  dread  the  musquetoes.  My  brother 
is  gone  with  the  Collector  to  sleep. 

We  have  had  a  sound  sleep  in  an  excellent  bed  chamber, 
in  which  were  two  beds  covered  with  thin  lawn  curtains, 
which  are  here  called  musquetoe  Nets,  but  we  found  it  so 
cool,  that  we  occupied  but  one  bed.  A  single  very  fine  Hol- 
land sheet  was  all  our  covering,  but  we  found  laid  by  the  side 
of  the  beds,  quilts,  in  case  we  chused  them,  which  by  four  in 
the  morning  we  found  to  be  absolutely  necessary.  A  black 
girl  appeared  about  seven  with  a  bason  of  green  tea  for  each 
of  us,  which  we  drank,  and  got  up  to  dress,  attended  by  our 
swarthy  waiting  maid,  whom  we  found  extremely  well  quali- 
fied for  the  office.  We  now  descended  into  the  hall  where 
breakfast  was  set  forth  with  every  necessary,  but  were  not  a 
little  surprised  to  see  a  goat  attending  to  supply  us  with 
milk,  which  she  did  in  great  abundance;  and  most  excellent 
milk  it  was.  Cream,  it  is  impossible  to  have,  as  no  contrivance 
has  yet  been  fallen  on  to  keep  it  sweet  above  an  hour.  There 
are  plenty  of  cows  in  the  Island,  but  their  milk  is  used  only 
for  the  sick,  while  the  goats  supply  milk  for  every  common 
purpose,  and  about  every  house  are  two  or  three  who  regu- 
larly attend  the  Tea-kettle  of  their  own  accord.^ 

Our  things  are  now  brought  ashore  by  Rob1,  but  Mrs 
Miller  absolutely  refuses  to  come  to  us,  which  I  am  not  sorry 
for,  as  so  much  ill  temper  in  a  servant  would  make  one  look 
silly  among  strangers,  and  to  dispute  the  point  would  render 
us  ridiculous.  We  have  therefore  accepted  the  proffered  ser- 

S  This  is  not  in  genteel  houses  however. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  87 

vice  of  Memboe,  the  black  girl,  before  mentioned,  for  whose 
honesty,  her  Mrs  has  become  responsible,  so  into  her  hands 
we  have  commited  our  Wardrobe. 

Breakfast  was  hardly  over,  when  several  carriages  were  at 
the  door,  begging  our  acceptance,  to  carry  us  about  the  town, 
or  where  else  we  chused  to  go.  We  accepted  one  belonging  to 
Mr  Halliday;  when  Mr  Martin  placed  himself  between  us, 
and  acted  the  character  of  Gallant  with  great  address.  No 
Lady  ever  goes  without  a  gentleman  to  attend  her;  their  car- 
riages are  light  and  airy;  this  of  Mr  Halliday's  was  drawn 
by  English  horses,  which  is  a  very  needless  piece  of  expence ; 
as  they  have  strong  horses  from  New  England,  and  most 
beautiful  creatures  from  the  Spanish  Main.  Their  Waggons 
which  are  large  and  heavy,  are  drawn  by  Mules,  many  of 
which  passed  Mrs  Dunbar's  window,  with  very  thin  clothed 
drivers,  nothing  on  their  bodies,  and  little  any  where,  which 
deserves  the  name  of  clothing.  The  women  too,  I  mean  the 
black  women,  wear  little  or  no  clothing,  nothing  on  their 
bodies,  and  they  are  hardly  prevailed  on  to  wear  a  petticoat. 

In  my  excursion  this  day,  I  met  with  some  intelligent 
people,  by  which  means  I  am  become  acquainted  with  a 
great  many  particulars,  which  my  stay  would  hardly  be  long 
enough  to  have  learned  by  my  own  observation.  I  have  had 
a  full  view  of  the  town,  which  is  very  neat  and  very  pretty, 
tho'  it  still  bears  the  marks  of  two  terrible  Misfortunes :  the 
dreadful  fire,  and  still  more  dreadful  hurricane.*  Many  of 

*The  fire  occurred  on  August  17,  1769,  and  consumed  two-thirds  of  the 
town,  at  a  loss  of  £400,000  Antigua  currency. 

The  hurricane  occurred  on  August  31,  1772.  Of  this  terrible  disaster 
Governor  Payne  wrote :  "On  Thursday  night,  the  27th  of  August,  we  had  an 
exceedingly  hard  gale  of  wind,  which  continued  for  the  space  of  7  or  8 
hours,  and  then  subsided  without  doing  any  material  damage.  On  the  night 
of  Sunday,  the  30th  of  August,  the  wind  blew  fresh  .  .  .  and  continued 
increasing  till  five  in  the  morning  when  it  blew  a  hurricane  from  the  N.  E. 
...  a  melancholy  darkness  prevail'd  for  more  than  an  hour  after  sun  rise. 
At  eight  o'clock  the  fury  of  the  tempest  in  some  measure  abated,  but  it  was 
only  to  collect  new  redoubl'd  violence,  and  to  display  itself,  with  tenfold 
terror,  for  the  space  of  4  hours  .  .  .  Some  persons  were  buried  in  the  ruins 


88       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  streets  are  not  yet  repaired,  but  like  London,  I  hope  it 
will  rise  more  glorious  from  its  ruins.  The  publick  buildings 
are  of  stone,  and  very  handsome,  they  have  all  been  built 
at  a  great  expence,  since  the  hurricane,  which  happened  later, 
and  was  attended  with  more  general  devastation  than  the 
fire.  The  houses  built  immediately  after  this  calamity  bear 
all  the  marks  of  that  fear,  which  possessed  the  minds  of  the 
Inhabitants  at  the  time.  They  are  low  and  seem  to  crutch 
[crouch],  as  if  afraid  of  a  second  misfortune.  But  by  degrees 
they  have  come  to  the  same  standard  as  formerly.  The  town 
consists  of  sixteen  streets,  which  all  ly  to  the  trade  wind  in 
full  view  of  the  bay. 

The  Negroes  are  the  only  market  people.  No  body  else 
dreams  of  selling  provisions.  Thursday  is  a  market  day,  but 
Sunday  is  the  grand  day,  as  then  they  are  all  at  liberty  to 
work  for  themselves,  and  people  hire  workmen  at  a  much 
easier  rate,  than  on  week  days  from  their  Masters.  The 
Negroes  also  keep  the  poultry,  and  it  is  them  that  raise  the 
fruits  and  vegetables.  But  as  I  am  not  yet  in  the  country,  I 
cannot  give  you  so  good  an  account,  as  I  shall  do  when  I 
have  seen  a  Negro  town.  We  dine  this  day  in  town,  and  to 
morrow  go  to  Dr  Dunbar's.  We  are  much  disappointed  to 
find  that  Sir  Ralph  Payn*  and  his  Lady  are  not  on  the 

of  their  houses.  Many  houses  were  razed.  The  doors,  windows,  and  partitions 
of  the  Court  House  were  blown  in,  the  interior  completely  wrecked  and 
most  valuable  papers  destroyed.  The  barracks  are  in  a  deplorable  condition. 
At  English  Harbour,  deemed  storm-proof,  there  was  a  squadron  under  Adm1 
Parry,  whose  flagship  with  others  drove  ashore  and  the  hospital  there  was 
levelled  to  the  ground,  crushing  in  its  fall  the  unfortunate  patients  and 
attendants.  My  new  study,  with  most  of  my  papers,  was  blown  away." 
Quoted  in  Oliver,  History  of  Antigua,  I,  cxxi. 

There  is  an  old  negro  adage  regarding  the  coming  of  hurricanes:  "June, 
too  soon;  July,  stand  by;  August,  come  it  must;  September,  remember; 
October,  all  over." 

*  Sir  Ralph  Payne,  governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  with  residence  in 
Antigua,  was  born  in  St.  Christopher,  in  1739.  He  was  commissioned  governor 
May  10,  1771,  resigned  February  17,  1775,  and  returned  soon  after  to  Eng- 
land. "Hardly  any  West  Indian  governor,"  says  the  author  of  the  Brief 
Account,  "ever  acquired  credit  there  except  Sir  George  Thomas  and  Sir 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  89 

Island,  but  they  are  expected  to  be  here  by  Christmas,  as 
Lady  Payn  never  misses  her  duty.  She  has  a  most  amiable 
character,  and  is  the  idol  of  the  whole  people.  I  regret  much 
not  having  the  happiness  to  see  her,  as  we  are  particularly 
recommended  to  the  governor-general  and  her  Ladyship  by 
Lord  Mansfield.* 

We  have  just  had  a  visit  from  two  Ladies,  Mrs  Mackinon 
and  her  daughter.f  They  are  two  of  the  most  agreeable 
people  I  ever  saw.  We  had  letters  for  them,  which  they  no 
sooner  received,  than  they  came  to  invite  us  to  their  house. 
Mrs  Mackinon  is  an  English  Lady  and  but  very  lately  come 
out;  she  was  much  pleased  at  meeting  with  some  British  peo- 
ple. We  are  engaged  to  pass  some  of  our  time  with  them: 

Ralph  Payne.  These  men  were  both  native  West  Indians,  who  knew  the  dis- 
position of  the  people  they  had  to  govern,  and  by  prudently  keeping  the 
arrogant  at  as  great  a  distance,  as  the  more  modest  would  naturally  keep 
themselves,  they  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  approved"  (p.  166).  Lord  Dart- 
mouth said  that  Sir  Ralph  had  "ever  shown  a  zeal  and  activity  that  is  highly 
pleasing  to  the  king" ;  and  in  August,  1775,  after  he  had  left  the  island  and 
another  appointee  was  under  consideration,  the  general  assembly  of  Antigua 
presented  an  address  to  the  king,  expressing  their  gratitude  for  his  having 
sent  them  a  man  of  Sir  Ralph's  character  and  worth  and  begging  that  he 
would  send  him  back  to  them  again. 

Governor  Payne  had  a  career  in  England  also.  He  was  an  M.P.  for  Ply- 
mouth in  1762,  Shaftesbury,  1769,  and  Camelford,  1774.  He  was  made  a  K.B. 
in  1771,  and  on  October  i,  1795,  was  created  an  Irish  peer,  Baron  Lavington 
of  Lavington,  entering  the  Privy  Council  in  1799.  He  was  reappointed  gover- 
nor of  Antigua,  January  20,  1799,  and  died  in  the  island,  August  3,  1807, 
aged  68. 

*  The  Right  Honorable  William  Lord  Mansfield  was  the  fourth  son  of 
David  Murray,  Viscount  Stormont,  and  brother  of  the  Mrs.  Murray  of 
Stormont  mentioned  later  in  the  narrative  (p.  247).  He  was  born  at  Scone, 
educated  at  Perth,  and  formed  part  of  that  Scottish  circle  of  intimates  in 
which  Miss  Schaw  moved.  He  is  frequently  referred  to,  here  and  elsewhere, 
as  giving  assistance  of  one  kind  or  another  to  his  Scottish  friends.  His 
judicial  and  parliamentary  career  is  too  well  known  to  need  comment. 

f  Mrs.  Mackinnen  was  Louise  Vernon  of  Hilton  Park,  Stafford,  who  had 
married  William  Mackinnen  of  Antigua  in  1757.  Mackinnen  was  an  absentee 
planter  for  many  years,  but  returned  to  the  island  in  1773,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  council.  He  went  back  to  England  some  time  before  1798, 
lived  at  Exeter,  and  died  in  1809.  He  was  buried  at  Binfield,  Berks,  where 
he  had  a  residence.  In  Antigua,  he  had  two  plantations,  "Golden  Grove"  and 
"Mackinnen's,"  the  latter,  an  estate  of  830  acres  in  St.  John's  parish,  is 
probably  the  one  visited  by  Miss  Schaw.  There  were  four  daughters. 


90       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  go  to  church  on  Sunday,  which  they  tell  us  is  a  very  fine 
one,  and  dine  afterwards  with  Collector  Halliday.  I  must 
bid  you  Adieu  for  the  present;  my  next  Letter  will  be  from 
the  Country. 

The  Eleanora.* 

I  have  heard  or  read  of  a  painter  or  poet,  I  forget  which, 
that  when  he  intended  to  excell  in  a  Work  of  Genius,  made 
throw  around  him  every  thing  most  pleasing  to  the  eye,  or 
delightful  to  the  Senses.  Should  this  always  hold  good,  at 
present  you  might  expect  the  most  delightful  epistle  you 
ever  read  in  your  life,  as  whatever  can  charm  the  senses  or 
delight  the  Imagination  is  now  in  my  view. 

My  bed-chamber,  to  render  it  more  airy,  has  a  door  which 
opens  into  a  parterre  of  flowers,  that  glow  with  colours, 
which  only  the  western  sun  is  able  to  raise  into  such  richness, 
while  every  breeze  is  fragrant  with  perfumes  that  mock  the 
poor  imitations  to  be  produced  by  art.  This  parterre  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  hedge  of  Pomegranate,  which  is  now  loaded 
both  with  fruit  and  blossom;  for  here  the  spring  does  not 
give  place  to  Summer,  nor  Summer  to  Autumn;  these  three 
Seasons  are  eternally  to  be  found  united,  while  we  give  up 
every  claim  to  winter,  and  leave  it  entirely  to  you. 

This  place  which  belongs  to  my  friend  Doctor  Dunbar,  is 
not  above  two  or  three  miles  from  town,  and  as  it  is  an  easy 
ascent  all  the  way,  stands  high  enough  to  give  a  full  prospect 
of  the  bay,  the  shipping,  the  town  and  many  rich  plantations, 
as  also  the  old  Barracks,  the  fort  and  the  Island  I  before 
mentioned.  Indeed  it  is  almost  impossible  to  conceive  so 
much  beauty  and  riches  under  the  eye  in  one  moment.  The 
fields  all  the  way  down  to  the  town,  are  divided  into  cane 
pieces  by  hedges  of  different  kinds.  The  favourite  seems  the 

*  Dr.  Dunbar's  plantation,  "Eleanora,"  lay  about  two  miles  north  of  St. 
John's,  a  mile  farther  on  than  that  of  William  Mackinnen.  Both  were  in 
the  Dickinson  Bay  division. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  91 

log-wood,  which,  tho'  extremely  beautiful,  is  not  near  so  fit 
for  the  purpose,  as  what  is  called  the  prickly  pear,  which 
grows  into  a  fence  as  prickly  and  close  as  our  hawthorn; 
but  so  violent  is  the  taste  for  beauty  and  scent,  that  this 
useful  plant  is  never  used,  but  in  distant  plantations.  I  am 
however  resolved  to  enter  into  no  particulars  of  this  kind,  till 
I  recover  my  senses  sufficiently  to  do  it  coolly ;  for  at  present, 
the  beauty,  the  Novelty,  the  ten  thousand  charms  that  this 
Scene  presents  to  me,  confuse  my  ideas.  It  appears  a  delight- 
ful Vision,  a  fairy  Scene  or  a  peep  into  Elysium ;  and  surely 
the  first  poets  that  painted  those  retreats  of  the  blessed  and 
good,  must  have  made  some  West  India  Island  sit  for  the 
picture. 

Tho'  the  Eleanora  is  still  most  beautiful,  yet  it  bears  evi- 
dent marks  of  the  hurricane.  A  very  fine  house  was  thrown 
to  the  ground,  the  Palmettoes  stand  shattered  monuments  of 
that  fatal  calamity;  with  these  the  house  was  surrounded  in 
the  same  manner,  as  I  described  the  plantation  near  town. 
Every  body  has  some  tragical  history  to  give  of  that  night  of 
horror,  but  none  more  than  the  poor  Doctor.  His  house  was 
laid  in  ruins,  his  canes  burnt  up  by  the  lightening,  his  orange 
orchyards,  Tammerand  Walks  and  Cocoa  trees  torn  from  the 
roots,  his  sugar  works,  mills  and  cattle  all  destroyed;  yet  a 
circumstance  was  joined,  that  rendered  every  thing  else  a 
thousand  times  more  dreadful.  It  happened  in  a  moment 
a  much  loved  wife  was  expiring  in  his  arms,  and  she  did 
breath  her  last  amidst  this  War  of  Elements,  this  wreck  of 
nature ;  while  he  in  vain  carried  her  from  place  to  place  for 
Shelter.  This  was  the  Lady  I  had  known  in  Scotland.  The 
hills  behind  the  house  are  high  and  often  craggy,  on  which 
sheep  and  goats  feed,  a  Scene  that  gives  us  no  small  pleasure, 
and  even  relieves  the  eye  when  fatigued  with  looking  on  the 
dazzling  lustre  the  other  prospect  presents  you. 

I  have  so  many  places  to  go  to,  that  I  fear  I  will  not  have 
time  to  write  again,  while  on  this  Island.  My  brother  pro- 


92       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

poses  to  make  a  tour  round  all  the  Islands,  in  which  we  will 
bear  him  company. 

My  brother  has  gone  to  make  the  tour  of  the  Islands  with- 
out us.  Every  body  was  so  desirous  of  our  staying  here,  and 
we  were  so  happy,  that  we  easily  agreed  to  their  obliging 
request,  nor  have  we  reason  to  repent  our  compliance,  as 
every  hour  is  rendered  agreeable  by  new  marks  of  civility, 
kindness  and  hospitality.  Miss  Rutherfurd  has  found  several 
of  her  boarding  school-friends  here  ;*  they  have  many  friends 
to  talk  of,  many  scenes  to  recollect.  This  shows  me  how  im- 
proper it  is  in  the  parents  to  send  them  early  from  them- 
selves and  their  country.  They  form  their  Sentiments  in 
Britain,  their  early  connections  commence  there,  and  they 
leave  it  just  when  they  are  at  the  age  to  enjoy  it  most,  and 
return  to  their  friends  and  country,  as  banished  exiles;  nor 
can  any  future  connection  cure  them  of  the  longing  they  have 
to  return  to  Britain.  Of  this  I  see  instances  every  day,  and 
must  attribute  to  that  cause  the  numbers  that  leave  this  little 
paradise,  and  throw  away  vast  sums  of  money  in  London, 
where  they  are,  either  entirely  overlooked  or  ridiculed  for  an 
extravagance,  which  after  all  does  not  even  raise  them  to  a 
level  with  hundreds  around  them;  while  they  neglect  the 
cultivation  of  their  plantations,  and  leave  their  delightful 
dwellings  to  Overseers,  who  enrich  themselves,  and  live  like 
princes  at  the  expence  of  their  thoughtless  masters,  feasting 
every  day  on  delicacies,  which  the  utmost  extent  of  expence 
is  unable  to  procure  in  Britain.  Antigua  has  more  proprie- 
tors on  it  however  than  any  of  the  other  Islands,  which  gives 
it  a  great  Superiority.  S*  Christopher's,  they  tell  me,  is  almost 
abandoned  to  Overseers  and  managers,  owing  to  the  amazing 
fortunes  that  belong  to  Individuals,  who  almost  all  reside 

*  It  is  of  course  impossible  to  identify  Fanny's  boarding  school,  but  the 
following  entry  in  the  Scots  Magazine  (36,  p.  392)  may  well  refer  to  it. 
"Miss  Sarah  Young,  daughter  of  Patrick  Young  of  Killicanty,  [who]  kept  a 
boarding  school  in  Edinburgh  for  young  ladies  upwards  of  thirty  years," 
died  on  July  30,  1774. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  93 

in  England.  Mr  Mackinnon  had  never  been  out  here,  had  not 
his  overseer  forgot  he  had  any  superior,  and  having  occasion 
for  the  whole  income,  had  sent  his  Master  no  remittances  for 
above  two  years.  He  found  things  however  in  very  good 
order,  as  this  gentleman  for  his  own  sake,  had  taken  care  of 
that.  But  as  his  constitution  is  now  entirely  British,  he  feels 
the  effects  of  the  Climate,  and  is  forced  to  think  of  wintering 
at  New  York  for  his  health.  We  have  seen  every  body  of 
fashion  in  the  Island,  and  our  toilet  is  loaded  with  cards  of 
Invitation,  which  I  hope  we  will  have  time  to  accept,  and  I 
will  then  be  able  to  say  more  as  to  the  manners  of  a  people 
with  whom  I  am  hitherto  delighted.  Forgive  me,  dearest  of 
friends,  for  being  happy  when  so  far  from  you,  but  the  hopes 
of  meeting,  to  be  happy  hereafter  supports  my  spirits. 

I  was  yesterday  at  church,*  and  found  they  had  not  said 
more  of  it  than  it  deserved;  for  tho'  the  outside  is  a  plain 
building,  its  inside  is  magnificent.  It  has  a  very  fine  organ,  a 
spacious  altar,  and  every  thing  necessary  to  a  church  which 
performs  the  English  Service.  You  know  I  am  no  bigoted 
Presbyterian,  and  as  the  tenets  are  the  same,  I  was  resolved  to 
conform  to  the  ceremonies,  but  am  sorry  to  find  in  myself 
the  force  of  habit  too  strong,  I  fear,  to  be  removed.  The 
church  was  very  full,  the  Audience  most  devout.  I  looked  at 
them  with  pleasure,  but  found  I  was  a  mere  Spectator,  and 
that  what  I  now  felt  had  no  more  to  do  with  me,  than  when 

*  St.  John's  Church  was  built  in  the  years  1740-1745,  the  tower,  which  had 
not  been  erected  when  Miss  Schaw  visited  the  island,  being  added  in  1786- 
1789.  The  building  occupied  a  conspicuous  position  on  an  eminence  in  the 
northeast  quarter  of  the  town  and  was  visible  from  all  the  country  round. 
It  was  built  of  brick  and  stone,  its  yard  being  enclosed  by  a  brick  wall,  the 
bricks  having  been  obtained  in  England  and  America.  On  pillars  at  the  south 
entrance  were  two  well  executed  figures  in  Portland  stone  of  St.  John  the 
Baptist  and  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  to  whom  the  church  was  dedicated,  and 
in  the  tower  were  a  clock  and  a  bell  given  in  1789  by  John  Delap  Halliday, 
son  of  the  collector.  The  organ  had  been  purchased  in  1760  and  in  1772  an 
organist,  George  Harland  Hartley,  was  installed.  The  rector,  whom  Miss 
Schaw  so  much  disliked,  was  the  Rev.  John  Bowen,  1767-1783  (Oliver,  III, 
357-3595  Brief  Account,  p.  2l). 


94       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

I  admired  Digges*  worshipping  in  the  Temple  of  the  Sun. 
This  is  a  discovery  I  am  sorry  to  make,  but  if  one  considers 
that  the  last  Clergyman  I  heard  in  Scotland  was  Mr  Web- 
ster,f  and  that  the  last  service  I  heard  him  perform  was  that 
of  a  prayer  for  myself  and  friends,  who  were  bidding  adieu 
to  their  native  land,  in  which  were  exerted  all  those  powers, 
which  he  possesses  in  so  eminent  a  degree,  his  own  heart 
affected  by  the  subject,  and  mine  deeply,  deeply  interested. 
It  was  no  wonder  that  those  now  read  from  a  book  by  a 
Clerk,  who  only  did  it,  because  he  was  paid  for  doing  it, 
appeared  cold  and  unapropos.  The  musick  tho'  fine  added  as 
little  to  my  devotion  as  the  sniveling  of  a  sincere-hearted 
country  precentor,  perhaps  less ;  but  the  beauty,  the  neatness 
and  elegance  of  the  Church  pleased  me  much,  and  in  this  I 
own,  we  are  very  defective  in  Scotland.  The  seat  for  the 
Governor  General  is  noble  and  magnificent,  covered  with 
Crimson  velvet;  the  drapery  round  it  edged  with  deep  gold 
fringe;  the  Crown  Cyphers  and  emblems  of  his  office  em- 
bossed and  very  rich.  Below  this  is  the  seat  for  the  Counsel- 
lors equally  fine  and  ornamented,  but  what  pleased  me  more 
than  all  I  saw,  was  a  great  number  of  Negroes  who  occupied 
the  Area,  and  went  thro'  the  Service  with  seriousness  and 
devotion.  I  must  not  forget  one  thing  that  really  diverted 
{  me;  the  parson  who  has  a  fine  income  is  as  complete  a  Cox- 
comb as  I  ever  met  with  in  a  pulpit.  He  no  sooner  cast  his 
eyes  to  where  we  were  than  he  seemed  to  forget  the  rest  of 
the  Audience,  and  on  running  over  his  sermon,  which  he  held 
in  his  hand,  he  appeared  dissatisfied,  and  without  more  ado 
dismounted  from  the  pulpit,  leaving  the  Service  unfinished, 

*  For  Digges,  see  below,  p.  136. 

fRev.  Dr.  Alexander  Webster  (1707-1784)  was  chaplain  in  ordinary  for 
Scotland  in  1771  and  a  dean  of  the  royal  chapel.  His  son,  Lieutenant  Colonel 
William  Webster,  served  in  the  British  army  in  America  and  was  wounded 
at  Guilford  Court  House.  Later  he  died  of  his  wounds  and  was  buried  at 
Elizabeth,  Bladen  county,  North  Carolina. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  95 

and  went  home  for  another;  which  to  do  it  justice  was  a  very 
good  one. 

We  found  Mr  Martin  at  the  Church  door  with  our  car- 
riages, into  which  we  mounted,  and  were  soon  at  Mr  Halli- 
day's  Plantation,  where  he  this  day  dined ;  for  he  has  no  less 
than  five,  all  of  which  have  houses  on  them.  This  house  is 
extremely  pleasant,  and  so  cool  that  one  might  forget  they 
were  under  the  Tropick.  We  had  a  family  dinner,  which  in 
England  might  figure  away  in  a  newspaper,  had  it  been  given 
by  a  Lord  Mayor,  or  the  first  Duke  in  the  kingdom.  Why 
should  we  blame  these  people  for  their  luxury?  since  nature 
holds  out  her  lap,  filled  with  every  thing  that  is  in  her  power 
to  bestow,  it  were  sinful  in  them  not  to  be  luxurious.  I  have 
now  seen  Turtle  almost  every  day,  and  tho'  I  never  could 
eat  it  at  home,  am  vastly  fond  of  it  here,  where  it  is  indeed 
a  very  different  thing.  You  get  nothing  but  old  ones  there, 
the  chickens  being  unable  to  stand  the  voyage ;  even  these  are 
starved,  or  at  best  fed  on  coarse  and  improper  food.  Here 
they  are  young,  tender,  fresh  from  the  water,  where  they 
feed  as  delicately,  and  are  as  great  Epicures,  as  those  who 
feed  on  them.  They  laugh  at  us  for  the  racket  we  make  to 
have  it  divided  into  different  dishes.  They  never  make  but 
two,  the  soup  and  the  shell.  The  first  is  commonly  made  of 
old  Turtle,  which  is  cut  up  and  sold  at  Market,  as  we  do 
butcher  meat.  It  was  remarkably  well  dressed  to  day.  The 
shell  indeed  is  a  noble  dish,  as  it  contains  all  the  fine  parts 
of  the  Turtle  baked  within  its  own  body;  here  is  the  green 
fat,  not  the  slabbery  thing  my  stomach  used  to  stand  at,  but 
firm  and  more  delicate  than  it  is  possible  to  describe.  Could 
an  Alderman  of  true  taste  conceive  the  difference  between 
it  here  and  in  the  city,  he  would  make  the  Voyage  on  pur- 
pose, and  I  fancy  he  would  make  a  voyage  into  the  other 
world  before  he  left  the  table. 

The  method  of  placing  the  meal  is  in  three  rows  the  length 
of  the  table;  six  dishes  in  a  row,  I  observe,  is  the  common 


96       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

number.  On  the  head  of  the  centre  row,  stands  the  turtle 
soup,  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  same  line  the  shell.  The  rest 
of  the  middle  row  is  generally  made  of  fishes  of  various 
kinds,  all  exquisite.  The  King  fish  is  that  most  prized;  it 
resembles  our  Salmon,  only  the  flesh  is  white.  The  Grouper 
is  a  fish  they  much  esteem,  its  look  is  that  of  a  pike,  but  in 
taste  far  superior.  The  Mullets  are  vastly  good.  These  three 
I  think  are  what  they  principally  admire,  but  there  are 
others  that  also  make  up  the  table.  The  Snapper  eats  like  a 
kind  of  Turbot,  not  less  delicate  than  what  ye  have.  They 
named  thirteen  different  fishes  all  good,  many  of  which  I 
have  eat  and  found  so.  They  are  generally  dressed  with  rich 
sauces;  the  red  pepper  is  much  used,  and  a  little  pod  laid 
by  every  plate,  as  also  a  lime  which  is  very  necessary  to  the 
digesting  the  rich  meats.  The  lime,  I  think,  is  an  addition 
to  every  dish. 

The  two  side  rows  are  made  up  of  vast  varieties :  Guinea 
fowl,  Turkey,  Pigeons,  Mutton,  fricassees  of  different  kinds 
intermixed  with  the  finest  Vegetables  in  the  world,  as  also 
pickles  of  every  thing  the  Island  produces.  By  the  bye,  the 
cole  mutton  is  as  fine  as  any  I  ever  eat.  It  is  small,  the  grain 
remarkably  fine,  sweet  and  juicy,  and  what  you  will  think 
wonderful  is,  that  it  is  thus  good,  tho'  it  is  eat  an  hour  after 
it  is  killed.  The  beef  I  do  not  think  equal  to  the  Mutton;  it 
comes  generally  from  New  England,  and  I  fancy  is  hurt  by 
the  Voyage.  They  have  just  now  a  scheme  of  raising  it  on  the 
high  plantations,  several  of  which  have  begun  to  wear  out, 
from  the  constant  crops  of  sugar  that  have  been  taken  from 
them.  The  second  course  contains  as  many  dishes  as  the  first, 
but  are  made  up  of  pastry,  puddings,  jellys,  preserved 
fruits,  etc.  I  observe  they  bring  the  Palmetto  cabbage  to  both 
courses,  in  different  forms.  Of  this  they  are  vastly  fond,  and 
give  it  as  one  of  their  greatest  delicacies.  Indeed  I  think  it 
one  of  the  most  expensive,  since  to  procure  it,  they  must  ruin 
the  tree  that  bears  it,  and  by  that  means  deprive  themselves 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  97 

of  at  least  some  part  of  that  shade,  for  which  they  have  so 
much  occasion. 

I  will  finish  the  table  in  this  letter,  for  tho'  I  like  to  see  it, 
yet  I  hope  to  find  twenty  things  more  agreeable  for  the  Sub- 
ject of  my  future  letters;  yet  this  will  amuse  some  of  our 
eating  friends.  The  pastry  is  remarkably  fine,  their  tarts  are 
of  various  fruits,  but  the  best  I  ever  tasted  is  a  sorrel,  which 
when  baked  becomes  the  most  beautiful  Scarlet,  and  the 
sirup  round  it  quite  transparent.  The  cheese-cakes  are  made 
from  the  nut  of  the  Cocoa.  The  puddings  are  so  various,  that 
it  is  impossible  to  name  them :  they  are  all  rich,  but  what  a 
little  surprised  me  was  to  be  told,  that  the  ground  of  them 
all  is  composed  of  Oat  meal,  of  which  they  gave  me  the 
receipt.  They  have  many  dishes  that  with  us  are  made  of 
milk,  but  as  they  have  not  that  article  in  plenty,  they  must 
have  something  with  which  they  supply  its  place,  for  they 
have  sillabubs,  floating  Islands,  etc.  as  frequently  as  with 
you.  They  wash  and  change  napkins  between  the  Courses. 
The  desert  now  comes  under  our  observation,  which  is  indeed 
something  beyond  you.  At  Mr  Halliday's  we  had  thirty  two 
different  fruits,  which  tho'  we  had  many  other  things,  cer- 
tainly was  the  grand  part,  yet  in  the  midst  of  this  variety  the 
Pine  apple  and  Orange  still  keep  their  ground  and  are  pre- 
ferred. The  pine  is  large,  its  colour  deep,  and  its  flavour 
incomparably  fine,  yet  after  all  I  do  not  think  it  is  superior 
to  what  we  raise  in  our  hot  houses,  which  tho'  smaller  are 
not  much  behind  in  taste  even  with  the  best  I  have  seen  here, 
tho'  in  size  and  beauty  there  is  no  comparison.  As  to  the 
Orange  it  is  quite  another  fruit  than  ever  I  tasted  before, 
the  perfume  is  exquisite,  the  taste  delicious,  it  has  a  juice 
which  would  produce  Sugar.  The  Shaddack  is  a  beautiful 
fruit,  it  is  generally  about  four  or  five  pounds  weight,  its 
Rind  resembles  an  Orange,  yet  I  hardly  take  it  to  be  of  the 
same  tribe,  as  neither  the  pulp  nor  seed  lies  in  the  same  man- 
ner. There  are  two  kinds,  the  white  and  the  purple  pulp,  the 


98       THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

last  is  best.  There  is  another  fruit  as  large  as  a  Shaddack,  but 
which  is  really  an  Orange ;  this  is  called  the  forbidden  fruit, 
and  looks  very  beautiful,  tho'  I  do  not  think  it  tastes  so  high 
as  the  Orange.  The  next  to  these  is  the  Allegator  pear,  a 
most  delicious  fruit;  then  come  in  twenty  others  of  less  note, 
tho'  all  good  and  most  refreshing  in  this  climate.  The  Grana- 
dila  is  in  size  about  the  bigness  of  an  egg,  its  colour  is  bright 
yellow,  but  in  seeds,  juice  and  taste,  it  exactly  resembles  our 
large  red  gooseberry ;  it  is  eat  with  a  tea  spoon ;  they  say  it  is 
the  coolest  and  best  thing  they  can  give  in  fevers.*  The 
grapes  are  very  good,  the  melons  of  various  kinds  as  with 
you,  but  it  were  endless  to  name  them;  every  thing  bears 
fruit  or  flowers  or  both. 

They  have  a  most  agreeable  forenoon  drink,  they  call 
Beveridge,  which  is  made  from  the  water  of  the  Cocoa  nut, 
fresh  lime  juice  and  sirup  from  the  boiler,  which  tho'  sweet 
has  still  the  flavour  of  the  cane.  This  the  men  mix  with  a 
small  proportion  of  rum;  the  Ladies  never  do.  This  is  pre- 
sented in  a  crystal  cup,  with  a  cover  which  some  have  of 
Silver.  Along  with  this  is  brought  baskets  of  fruit,  and  you 
may  eat  as  much  as  you  please  of  it,  because  (according  to 
their  maxim)  fruit  can  never  hurt.  I  am  sure  it  never  hurts 
me.  When  I  first  came  here,  I  could  not  bear  to  see  so  much 
of  a  pine  apple  thrown  away.  They  cut  off  a  deep  pairing, 
then  [cut]  out  the  firm  part  of  the  heart,  which  takes  away 
not  much  less  than  the  half  of  the  apple.  But  only  observe 
how  easy  it  is  to  become  extravagant.  I  can  now  feel  if  the 
least  bit  of  rind  remains ;  and  as  to  the  heart,  heavens !  who 
could  eat  the  nasty  heart  of  a  pine  apple.  I  shall  only  men- 
tion the  Guava,  which  is  a  fruit  I  am  not  fond  of  as  such, 
but  makes  the  finest  Jelly  I  ever  saw.  This  with  Marmalade 

*  "Forbidden  fruit"  is  a  small  variety  of  shaddock,  so  called  because  it 
is  supposed  to  resemble  the  forbidden  fruit  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  The 
granadilla  is  the  fruit  of  a  species  of  passion  flower  (Passiflora  quad- 
rangularis),  often  six  to  eight  inches  in  diameter.  Miss  Schaw  anticipates 
the  modern  liking  for  the  alligator  pear. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER  99 

of  pine  apple  is  part  of  Breakfast,  which  here  as  well  as  in 
Scotland  is  really  a  meal. 

They  have  various  breads,  ham,  eggs,  and  indeed  what  you 
please,  but  the  best  breakfast  bread  is  the  Casada  cakes,* 
which  they  send  up  buttered.  These  are  made  from  a  root 
which  is  said  to  be  poison.  Before  it  goes  thro'  the  various 
operations  of  drying,  pounding  and  baking,  you  would  think 
one  would  not  be  very  clear  as  to  a  food  that  had  so  lately 
been  of  so  pernicious  a  nature,  yet  such  are  the  effects  of 
Example,  that  I  eat  it,  not  only  without  fear,  but  with 
pleasure.  They  drink  only  green  Tea  and  that  remarkably 
fine;  their  Coffee  and  chocolate  too  are  uncommonly  good; 
their  sugar  is  monstrously  dear,  never  under  three  shillings 
per  pound.  At  this  you  will  not  wonder  when  you  are  told, 
they  use  none  but  what  returns  from  England  double  refined, 
and  has  gone  thro'  all  the  duties.  I  believe  this  they  are 
forced  to  by  act  of  parliament,  but  am  not  certain.f  This 
however  is  a  piece  of  great  extravagance,  because  the  sugar 
here  can  be  refined  into  the  most  transparent  sirup  and  tastes 
fully  as  well  as  the  double  refined  Sugar,  and  is  certainly 

*  The  cassada  or  cassava  is  a  fleshy  root,  the  sweet  variety  of  which  is  still 
used  for  food.  The  writer  of  the  Brief  Account  gives  nearly  the  same  list  of 
fruits  as  does  Miss  Schaw,  and  of  the  cassava  says,  "Cassava  (commonly 
called  Cassada)  is  a  species  of  bread  made  from  the  root  of  a  plant  of  the 
same  name,  by  expression.  The  water,  or  juice,  is  poisonous,  but  the  remain- 
ing part  after  being  dried,  or  baked  on  thick  iron  plates,  is  both  wholesome 
and  palatable,  it  is  eaten  dry  or  toasted,  and  it  also  makes  excellent  pud- 
dings" (p.  63;  cf.  64-67,  68-72).  The  Antigua  plantation  of  Abraham  Red- 
wood, of  Rhode  Island,  who  founded  the  Redwood  Library  at  Newport,  was 
called  "Cassada  Garden."  It  was  in  St.  George's  parish. 

f  There  was  no  act  of  parliament  forbidding  sugar-refining  in  the  West 
Indies,  but  the  British  refiners  objected  strongly  to  the  West  Indian  planters' 
entering  into  competition  with  themselves  (since  under  the  mercantilist 
scheme  they  should  send  to  England  only  raw  materials)  and  endeavored  to 
discourage  it  in  every  way  possible.  Sugar-refining  was  deemed  a  form  of 
manufacturing,  in  which  the  colonists  were  not  expected  to  engage.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  treatment  in  the  West  Indies  of  the  raw  juice  of  the  sugar 
cane  went  no  farther  than  the  Muscovado  process,  which  produced  the 
various  grades  of  brown  sugar,  with  the  by-product,  molasses.  For  a  descrip- 
tion of  this  process,  see  Aspinall,  British  West  Indies,  pp.  171-172;  Jones 
and  Scard,  The  Manufacture  of  Cane  Sugar;  and  for  a  contemporary  illus- 


ioo     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

much  more  wholesome.  Many  of  the  Ladies  use  it  for  the 
Coffee  and  all  for  the  punch.  The  drink  which  I  have  seen 
every  where  is  Punch,  Madeira,  Port  and  Claret;  in  some 
places,  particularly  at  Mr  Halliday's,  they  have  also  Bur- 
gundy. Bristol  beer  and  porter  you  constantly  find,  but  they 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  have  Champaign,  as  the  heat  makes 
it  fly  too  much.  They  have  cyder  from  America  very  good. 
I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  along  with  the  desert  come  per- 
fumed waters  in  little  bottles,  also  a  number  of  flowers  stuck 
into  gourds.  One  would  think  that  this  letter  was  wrote  by 
a  perfect  Epicure,  yet  that  you  know  is  not  the  case,  but  this 
is  the  last  time  I  shall  me/ition  the  table,  except  in  general, 
unless  I  find  some  very  remarkable  difference  between  this 
and  the  other  Islands  I  may  be  in. 

I  have  been  on  a  tour  almost  from  one  end  of  the  Island  to 
the  other,  and  am  more  and  more  pleased  with  its  beauties, 
as  every  excursion  affords  new  objects  worthy  of  notice.  We 
have  been  on  several  visits,  particularly  to  Coll.  Martin,  but 
I  will  say  nothing  of  him  till  I  bring  you  to  his  house.  He  is 
an  acquaintance  well  worth  your  making,  and  I  will  intro- 
duce him  to  you  then  in  form.  As  we  were  to  make  a  journey, 
we  set  early  off,  and  for  some  hours  before  the  heat,  had  a 
charming  ride  thro'  many  rich  and  noble  plantations,  several 
of  which  belonged  to  Scotch  proprietors,  particularly  that 
of  the  Dillidaffs  (Lady  Oglivy  and  Mrs  Leslie).*  We  soon 
arrived  at  that  of  Mr  Freeman.f  This  Gentleman  who  is 

tration  of  a  sugar  mill,  Universal  Magazine,  II,  103.  This  process  is  still  con- 
tinued on  many  West  Indian  estates,  as  it  is  much  cheaper  than  the  vacuum 
process  and  furnishes  the  market  not  only  with  molasses,  but  also  with  the 
old  brown  sugar,  "sweetest  of  all  and  the  delight  of  children  for  their  bread 
and  butter." 

*  "Dillidaff"  is  probably  phonetic  for  Tullideph,  a  well-known  Scottish 
name.  Dr.  Walter  Tullideph  of  Antigua  had  two  daughters,  Charlotte,  who 
married  Sir  John  Ogilvy,  and  Mary,  who  married  Hon.  Col.  Alexander 
Leslie.  After  leaving  St.  John's  the  party  rode  southward  along  the  coast, 
turning  eastward  a  mile  or  so  to  visit  "Green  Castle,"  Colonel  Martin's 
estate  in  Bermudian  Valley  under  Windmill  Hill. 

f  Arthur  Freeman  was  the  eldest  son  and  the  heir-at-law  of  Thomas 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          101 

remarkable  for  his  learning,  is  no  stranger  to  the  polite  Arts, 
and  tho'  not  a  martyr,  is  a  votary  to  the  Graces,  as  appears 
by  every  thing  round  him.  His  plantation,  which  is  laid  out 
with  the  greatest  taste,  has  a  mixture  of  the  Indian  and 
European.  If  your  eye  is  hurt  by  the  stiff  uniformity  of  the 
tall  Palmetto,  it  is  instantly  relieved  by  the  waving  branches 
of  the  spreading  Tammerand,  or  the  Sand-box  tree.  The 
flowering  cyder  is  a  beautiful  tree,  covered  with  flowers,  and 
along  Mr  Freeman's  avenue  these  were  alternately  inter- 
mixed with  Orange  trees,  limes,  Cocoa  Nuts,  Palmettoes, 
Myrtles  and  citrons,  with  many  more  which  afforded  a  most 
delightful  shade,  which  continued  till  we  arrived  at  the  bot- 
tom of  a  green  hill,  on  which  the  nouse  stands. 

This  hill  was  also  shaded  with  trees,  beneath  which  grow 
flowers  of  every  hue,  that  the  western  sun  is  able  to  paint. 

Freeman  (died,  1736).  He  was  born  in  1724  and  died  January  30,  1780,  aged 
56.  In  1765,  when  forty-one  years  old,  he  eloped  with  the  youngest  daughter 
of  the  governor,  George  Thomas,  and  went  to  England.  Governor  Thomas, 
a  native  of  Antigua  and  deputy  governor  of  Pennsylvania  for  nine  years, 
had  been  appointed  governor  of  the  Leeward  Islands  in  1753.  He  retired  in 
1766,  was  made  a  baronet  in  the  same  year,  and  died  in  London,  December 
3!>  1773>  aged  79.  He  was  so  angry  with  Freeman  for  running  off  with  his 
daughter,  at  that  time  but  nineteen  years  old,  that  he  suspended  him  from 
the  council,  giving  the  following  elaborate  statement  of  reasons. 

"In  defiance  of  the  laws  of  Great  Britain  and  of  this  Island,  in  contempt 
of  the  respect  due  to  him  as  his  Majesty's  Governor  in  Chief  of  the  Leeward 
Islands,  and  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  hospitality  [Freeman]  basely  and 
treacherously  seduced  his  daughter,  of  considerable  pretensions,  from  the 
duty  and  obedience  due  to  him  as  a  most  affectionate  tender  father,  by  pre- 
vailing on  her  to  make  a  private  elopement  from  his  house,  with  assur- 
ances, from  his  uncommon  indulgence,  of  an  easy  forgiveness  and  by  bribing 
an  indigent  Scotch  parson,  who  had  been  indebted  to  the  general  [Thomas] 
for  his  daily  bread,  to  join  them  in  marriage  without  licence  or  any  other 
lawful  authority,  in  hopes  of  repairing  the  said  Freeman's  fortune,  become 
desperate  by  a  series  of  folly  and  extravagance"  (Oliver,  I,  266). 

The  Privy  Council  in  England,  deeming  the  matter  a  private  one,  refused 
to  support  the  action  of  the  choleric  old  governor  and  restored  Freeman  to 
the  council.  He  returned  and  took  his  seat  in  1770.  Apparently  he  left  his 
wife  in  England,  where  she  died  in  1797,  aged  52,  for  Miss  Schaw's  account 
contains  no  hint  of  a  wife.  He  must  have  gone  back  later,  for  he  was  buried 
in  Willingdon  Church,  Sussex.  For  an  intimate  picture  of  Governor  Thomas 
in  Pennsylvania  in  1744,  see  Hamilton's  Itinerarium  (privately  printed, 
1907),  PP.  25,  33,  35. 


1O2     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Amongst  these  I  saw  many  that  with  much  pains  are  raised 
in  our  hot  houses ;  but  how  inferior  to  what  they  are  here,  in 
their  native  soil,  without  any  trouble,  but  that  of  preventing 
their  overgrowing  each  other.  For  as  they  are  the  weeds  of 
this  country,  like  other  weeds  they  wax  fast.  The  Carnation 
tree,  or  as  they  call  it  the  doble  day  is  a  most  glorious  plant; 
it  does  not  grow  above  ten  feet  high,  so  can  only  be  num- 
bered amongst  Shrubs,  but  is  indeed  a  superior  one  even  here. 
The  leaf  is  dark  green,  the  flowers  bear  an  exact  resemblance 
to  our  largest  Dutch  Carnation,  which  hang  in  large  bunches 
from  the  branches.  The  colours  are  sometimes  dark  rich 
Crimson  spotted  or  specked  with  white,  sometimes  purple  in 
the  same  manner.  Ruby  colour  is  the  lightest  I  observed. 
They  are  often  one  colour,  and  when  that  is  the  case,  they 
are  hardly  to  be  looked  at  while  the  sun  shines  on  them. 
These  you  meet  every  where.  Another  is  the  passion  flower, 
which  grows  in  every  hedge  and  twines  round  every  tree ;  it 
here  bears  a  very  fine  fruit,  and  as  I  formerly  observed,  the 
three  seasons  of  Spring,  Summer  and  Autumn  go  hand  in 
hand.  The  fruit  and  flower  ornament  the  bush  jointly.  There 
is  another  beautiful  shrub,  which  they  call  the  four  o'clock, 
because  it  opens  at  four  every  afternoon;  this  is  absolutely 
a  convulvalous,  and  they  have  both  the  major  and  minor. 
The  blue  is  the  finest  Velvet  and  the  Crimson  the  brightest 
satin;  but  allowing  for  the  superiority  of  colour  produced 
by  the  warmth  of  a  Tropick  sun,  I  saw  no  other  difference, 
and  on  this  discovery  I  found  out  that  many  more  of  the 
plants  were  of  the  same  tribes  at  least  with  what  we  have, 
but  so  greatly  improved,  that  they  were  hardly  to  be  known. 
How  different  is  that  from  the  plants  of  this  country,  when 
they  come  to  our  Northern  Climate. 

My  seeing  all  these  in  high  perfection  at  Mr  Freeman's 
plantation  led  me  to  describe  them  here,  tho'  every  place  is 
full  of  them;  and  they  are  a  great  hurt  to  the  Canes,  tho' 
when  taken  in  as  he  has  them,  they  are  most  beautiful.  His 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          103 

house,  which  stands  on  the  Summit  of  this  little  hill,  is 
extremely  handsome,  built  of  stone.  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that 
every  house  has  a  handsome  piazza;  that  to  his  is  large  and 
spacious.  You  reach  the  house  by  a  Serpentine  walk,  on  each 
side  grows  a  hedge  of  Cape  Jasmine.  The  verdure  which 
appeared  here  is  surprising,  and  shews  that  it  only  requires 
a  little  care  to  exclude  that  heat  which  ruins  every  thing. 
The  sun  was  now  high,  yet  it  was  so  cool,  that  we  were  able 
to  walk  a  great  way  under  these  trees.  I  am  sorry  to  add,  that 
I  fear  the  esteemable  master  is  not  long  to  enjoy  this  earthly 
paradise.  He  has  been  close  confined  for  many  months  with 
an  illness  in  his  head ;  one  of  his  eyes  is  already  lost,  and  it  is 
dreaded,  that  tho'  he  were  to  recover  his  health,  he  would 
be  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  viewing  these  beauties  I  have 
so  much  admired.  My  Brother  was  often  with  him  and  vastly 
fond  of  him. 

We  were  next  at  the  plantation  of  a  Mr  Malcolm,*  a  near 
relation  of  Mr  Rutherfurd's.  This  Gentleman  was  bred  a 
physician,  but  has  left  off  practice,  and  enjoys  a  comfortable 
estate  in  peace  and  quiet,  without  wife  or  children.  But  it  is 
inconceivable  how  fond  he  was  of  these  relations,  whom  he 
caressed  as  his  children,  loading  them  with  every  thing  he 
had  that  was  good.  I  shall  say  nothing  of  many  other  places, 
as  I  long  to  bring  you  acquainted  with  the  most  delightful 
character  I  have  ever  yet  met  with,  that  of  Coll.  Martin,  f 
the  loved  and  revered  father  of  Antigua,  to  whom  it  owes  a 
thousand  advantages,  and  whose  age  is  yet  daily  employed 

*  Patrick  Malcolm  was  a  surgeon  of  Antigua,  who  died  in  1785-  He  had 
a  diploma  from  Surgeons  Hall,  London,  as  had  Dr.  Dunbar,  and  was 
licensed  to  practice  in  the  island  in  1749.  That  he  was  on  terms  of  close 
intimacy  with  the  Martins  appears  from  the  mention  of  his  name  several 
times  in  their  wills.  His  relationship  to  the  Rutherfurds  we  have  not  been 
able  to  discover.  He  may  have  been  a  brother  of  George  Malcolm  of  Burn- 
foot  in  Dumfriesshire,  who  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  James  Paisley  of 
Craig  and  Burn  near  Langholm,  and  so  have  been  connected  with  the  Pais- 
leys of  Lisbon  (below,  p.  214). 

f  See  Appendix  II,  "The  Martin  Family." 


1O4     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

to  render  it  more  improved  and  happy.  This  is  one  of  the 
oldest  families  on  the  Island,  has  for  many  generations  en- 
joyed great  power  and  riches,  of  which  they  have  made  the 
best  use,  living  on  their  Estates,  which  are  cultivated  to  the 
/'  height  by  a  large  troop  of  healthy  Negroes,  who  cheerfully 
perform  the  labour  imposed  on  them  by  a  kind  and  benefi- 
cent Master,  not  a  harsh  and  unreasonable  Tyrant.  Well  fed, 
well  supported,  they  appear  the  subjects  of  a  good  prince, 
not  the  slaves  of  a  planter.  The  effect  of  this  kindness  is  a 
daily  increase  of  riches  by  the  slaves  born  to  him  on  his  own 
plantation.  He  told  me  he  had  not  bought  in  a  slave  for 
upwards  of  twenty  years,  and  that  he  had  the  morning  of 
our  arrival  got  the  return  of  the  state  of  his  plantations,  on 
which  there  then  were  no  less  than  fifty  two  wenches  who 
were  pregnant.  These  slaves,  born  on  the  spot  and  used  to  the 
Climate,  are  by  far  the  most  valuable,  and  seldom  take  these 
disorders,  by  which  such  numbers  are  lost  that  many  hun- 
dreds are  forced  yearly  to  be  brought  into  the  Island.* 

On  our  arrival  we  found  the  venerable  man  seated  in  his 
piazza  to  receive  us ;  he  held  out  his  hands  to  us,  having  lost 
the  power  of  his  legs,  and  embracing  us  with  the  embraces 
of  a  fond  father,  "You  are  welcome,"  said  he,  "to  little  Anti- 
gua, and  most  heartily  welcome  to  me.  My  habitation  has  not 
looked  so  gay  this  long  time."  Then  turning  to  Mr  Halliday 
who  had  brought  us  his  invitation,  "How  shall  I  thank  you, 
my  good  friend,"  said  he,  "for  procuring  me  this  happiness, 
in  persuading  these  ladies  to  come  to  an  old  man.  Old,  did 
I  say?  I  retract  the  word:  Eighty  five  that  can  be  sensible 
of  beauty,  is  as  young  as  twenty  five  that  can  be  no  more." 
There  was  gallantry  for  you.  We  now  had  fruit,  sangarie 
and  beverage  brought  us,  not  by  slaves;  it  is  a  maxim  of  his 
that  no  slave  can  render  that  acceptable  Service  he  wishes 

*  In  his  Essay  upon  Planterskip,  pp.  2-7,  Colonel  Martin  deals  at  length 
with  the  proper  care  of  plantation  negroes,  and  expresses  opinions  similar 
to  those  ascribed  to  him  by  Miss  Schaw. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          105 

from  those  immediately  about  himself;  and  for  that  reason 
has  made  them  free,  and  the  alacrity  with  which  they  serve 
him,  and  the  love  they  bear  him,  shew  he  is  not  wrong.  His 
table  was  well  served  in  every  thing;  good  order  and  cheer- 
fulness reigned  in  his  house.  You  would  have  thought  the 
servants  were  inspired  with  an  instinctive  knowledge  of  your 
wishes,  for  you  had  scarcely  occasion  to  ask  them.  His  con- 
versation was  pleasant,  entertaining  and  instructive,  his 
manners  not  merely  polite  but  amiable  in  a  high  degree.  It 
was  impossible  not  to  love  him.  I  never  resisted  it;  but  gave 
him  my  heart  without  hesitation,  for  which  I  hope  you  will 
not  blame  me,  nor  was  Fanny  less  taken  than  myself  with 
this  charming  old  man. 

He  told  us  that  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  his  chil- 
dren, he  had  resided  in  England  for  several  years,  "but  tho' 
they  kept  me  in  a  greenhouse,"  said  he,  "and  took  every 
method  to  defend  me  from  the  cold,  I  was  so  absolute  an 
exotick,  that  all  could  not  do,  and  I  found  myself  daily  giv- 
ing way,  amidst  all  their  tenderness  and  care;  and  had  I 
stayed  much  longer,"  continued  he,  smiling,  "I  had  actually 
by  this  time  become  an  old  man.  I  have  had,  Madam,"  said 
he  turning  to  me,  "twenty  three  children,  and  tho'  but  a 
small  number  remain,  they  are  such  as  may  raise  the  pride  of 
any  father.  One  of  my  sons  you  will  know  if  you  go  to 
Carolina,  he  is  governor  there ;  another,  my  eldest,  you  know 
by  character  at  least."*  This  I  did  and  much  admired  that 
character.  He  wishes  to  have  his  dear  little  Antigua  inde- 
pendent; he  regrets  the  many  Articles  she  is  forced  to  trust 
to  foreign  aid,  and  the  patriot  is  even  now  setting  an  exam- 
ple, and  by  turning  many  of  the  plantations  into  grass,  he 
allows  them  to  rest  and  recover  the  strength  they  have  lost, 
by  too  many  crops  of  sugar,  and  by  this  means  is  able  to  rear 

*  The  son  in  Carolina  was  Governor  Josiah  Martin ;  the  one  in  England, 
whose  character  Miss  Schaw  knew,  was  Samuel  Martin,  Josiah 's  half-brother, 
who  attained  wide  notoriety  from  his  duel  with  John  Wilkes. 


io6     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

cattle  which  he  has  done  with  great  success.*  I  never  saw 
finer  cows,  nor  more  thriving  calves,  than  I  saw  feeding  in 
his  lawns,  and  his  waggons  are  already  drawn  by  oxen  of  his 
own  rearing. 

We  were  happy  and  delighted  with  every  thing  while 
there,  but  as  we  prepared  to  leave  him,  found  we  had  a  task 
we  were  not  aware  of;  for  during  the  time  we  stayed,  he  had 
formed  a  design  not  to  part  with  us.  This  he  had  communi- 
cated to  Mr  Halliday  and  young  Martin,  who  were  much 
pleased  with  it,  as  they  were  so  good  as  to  wish  to  retain  us, 
if  possible,  on  the  Island.  I  shall  never  forget  with  what 
engaging  sweetness  the  dear  old  man  made  the  proposal, 
why  did  he  not  make  another,  that  would  have  rendered 
him  master  of  our  fate,  of  which  we  ourselves  had  not  the 
disposal.  "You  must  not  leave  me,"  said  he,  taking  both  our 
hands  in  his,  "every  thing  in  my  power  shall  be  subservient 
to  your  happiness;  my  age  leaves  no  fear  of  reputation." 
"You,"  said  he  to  me,  "shall  be  my  friend,  my  companion, 
you  shall  grace  my  table  and  be  its  mistress ;  and  you,"  con- 
tinued he  turning  to  Miss  Rutherfurd,  "You,  my  lovely 
Fanny,  shall  be  my  child,  my  little  darling."  "I  once,"  said 
he,  with  a  sigh,  "had  an  Angel  Fanny  of  my  own,  she  is  no 
more,  supply  her  place."  Mrs  Dunbar  joined  and  begged  as 
if  her  life  had  depended  on  our  compliance.  "Stay,"  said  the 
Coll :,  "at  least  till  Mr  S.  be  settled,  f  he  will  then  come  for 
you."  It  was  in  vain,  go  we  must,  and  go  we  did,  tho'  my 
heart  felt  a  pang  like  that  which  it  sustained  when  I  lost  the 
best  of  fathers. J 

*  Colonel  Martin  was  one  of  those  who  foresaw  the  eventual  decay  of  the 
industry  of  the  island,  because  of  its  cultivation,  to  the  exclusion  of  every- 
thing else,  of  the  single  staple,  sugar.  He  wished  to  see  some  of  the  cane 
land  converted  into  pasture  for  the  rearing  of  sheep  and  cattle. 

f  "Till  Mr.  Schaw  be  settled,"  that  is,  till  Alexander  Schaw  be  definitely 
established  in  his  post  as  searcher  of  customs  at  St.  Christopher. 

t  Gideon  Schaw  of  Lauriston,  the  father  of  Janet  and  Alexander,  died 
January  19,  1772  (Scots  Magazine,  34,  p.  51).  When  he  was  born  we  do  not 
know,  but  he  was  already  married  in  1726,  for  Patrick  Walker,  in  his  Bio- 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          107 

Last  Saturday  was  Christmass  which  we  had  engaged  to 
pass  with  Mr  Halliday,  but  our  good  old  hostess  Mrs  Dun- 
bar  had  begged  so  hard  that  we  would  pay  her  a  visit,  that 
we  took  the  opportunity  of  every  body  being  at  their  devo- 
tions to  go  to  her,  as  her  house  did  not  admit  of  retirement. 
The  old  Lady  was  charmed  to  see  us  and  we  had  reason  to 
thank  her  for  Memboe,  who  had  been  most  exact  in  her  duty. 
Mr  Mackinnon  had  taken  Jack  up  to  his  plantation,  and  was 
grown  so  fond  of  him,  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  part  with 
him.  Billie  lives  much  at  his  ease  between  the  ship  and  Mrs 
Dunbar's.  We  found  Mary  had  been  often  ashore,  but  gave 
herself  no  trouble  about  us.  Indeed  we  had  no  occasion  for 
her  attendance,  as  Memboe,  the  black  wench,  performed  her 
duty  in  every  respect  to  our  satisfaction.  Every  body  who 
did  not  attend  the  service  at  Church  were  gone  out  of  town. 
My  brother  was  not  yet  returned  from  his  Tour,  so  we  had 
that  night  entirely  to  ourselves.  Next  morning  atoned  for 
this,  as  every  body  was  with  us,  and  we  were  carried  by  Mr 
Halliday  and  Mr  Martin  up  to  a  fine  plantation,  which  be- 
longs to  the  former.  We  went  out  of  town  pretty  early,  as 
Mrs  Dunbar  with  several  other  Ladies  were  to  meet  us. 

We  met  the  Negroes  in  joyful  troops  on  the  way  to  town 
with  their  Merchandize.  It  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sights  I  ever  saw.  They  were  universally  clad  in  white  Mus- 

graphia  Presbyteriana  (II,  283-284),  tells  a  grewsome  tale  of  the  execution 
and  burial  near  Lauriston  at  that  time  of  certain  condemned  persons,  in 
connection  with  which  he  mentions  both  Gideon  Schaw  and  his  wife.  In 
1730  Gideon  (or  Gidjun)  was  appointed  supervisor  of  the  salt-duty  at 
Alloa,  the  leading  customs  port  at  the  head  of  the  Firth  of  Forth,  and  there 
remained  until  1734,  when  he  removed  to  a  similar  post  at  Prestonpans,  a 
smaller  town  below  Leith.  There  he  continued  to  live  until  1738,  when  he 
was  appointed  collector  of  customs  at  Perth,  at  the  head  of  the  Firth  of  Tay, 
serving  in  that  capacity  until  1751,  when  he  became  assistant  to  Harnage,  the 
register-general  of  tobacco  in  Scotland,  with  the  title  of  assistant  in  Scotland 
to  the  register-general  in  England.  His  appointment  was  renewed  in  1761  (on 
the  accession  of  George  III)  and  he  continued  to  serve  until  his  death  in 
1772,  residing  in  Lauriston.  His  salary,  beginning  at  £30  a  year,  rose  to 
£150  at  the  end,  an  amount  not  large  even  for  those  days.  Miss  Schaw  in  her 
journal  frequently  refers  to  Perth,  the  Tay,  and  the  country  about. 


io8     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

lin :  the  men  in  loose  drawers  and  waistcoats,  the  women  in 
jackets  and  petticoats;  the  men  wore  black  caps,  the  women 
had  handkerchiefs  of  gauze  or  silk,  which  they  wore  in  the 
fashion  of  turbans.*  Both  men  and  women  carried  neat 
white  wicker-baskets  on  their  heads,  which  they  ballanced 
as  our  Milk  maids  do  their  pails.  These  contained  the  various 
articles  for  Market,  in  one  a  little  kid  raised  its  head  from 
amongst  flowers  of  every  hue,  which  were  thrown  over  to 
guard  it  from  the  heat;  here  a  lamb,  there  a  Turkey  or  a  pig, 
all  covered  up  in  the  same  elegant  manner,  While  others  had 
their  baskets  filled  with  fruit,  pine-apples  reared  over  each 
other;  Grapes  dangling  over  the  loaded  basket;  oranges, 
Shaddacks,  water  lemons,  pomegranates,  granadillas,  with 
twenty  others,  whose  names  I  forget.  They  marched  in  a 
sort  of  regular  order,  and  gave  the  agreeable  idea  of  a  set  of 
devotees  going  to  sacrifice  to  their  Indian  Gods,  while  the 
sacrifice  offered  just  now  to  the  Christian  God  is,  at  this 
Season  of  all  others  the  most  proper,  and  I  may  say  boldly, 
the  most  agreeable,  for  it  is  a  mercy  to  the  creatures  of  the 
God  of  mercy.  At  this  Season  the  crack  of  the  inhuman  whip 
must  not  be  heard,  and  for  some  days,  it  is  an  universal 
Jubilee;  nothing  but  joy  and  pleasantry  to  be  seen  or  heard, 
while  every  Negro  infant  can  tell  you,  that  he  owes  this 
happiness  to  the  good  Buccara  God,$  that  he  be  no  hard 

ft  White  men's  God. 

*  The  "tenah"  was  the  negro  woman's  headdress,  composed  of  one  or  more 
handkerchiefs  put  on  in  the  manner  of  a  turban.  An  excellent  description  of 
the  market  is  given  by  the  author  of  the  Brief  Account.  "This  market  is  held 
at  the  southern  extremity  of  the  town  .  .  .  here  an  assemblage  of  many  hun- 
dred negroes  and  mulattoes  expose  for  sale  poultry,  pigs,  kids,  vegetables, 
fruit  and  other  things ;  they  begin  to  assemble  by  day-break  and  the  market 
is  generally  crowded  by  ten  o'clock.  This  is  the  proper  time  to  purchase  for 
the  week  such  things  as  are  not  perishable.  The  noise  occasioned  by  the 
jabber  of  the  negroes  and  the  squalling  and  cries  of  the  children  basking  in 
the  sun  exceeds  anything  I  ever  heard  in  a  London  market.  About  three 
o'clock  the  business  is  nearly  over."  The  writer  goes  on  to  discuss  the  ob- 
noxious odors,  the  drinking  of  grog,  the  gambling  and  fighting,  etc.,  which 
accompanied  the  holding  of  the  market  (pp.  139-141). 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          109 

Master,  but  loves  a  good  black  man  as  well  as  a  Buccara 
man,  and  that  Master  will  die  bad  death,  if  he  hurt  poor 
Negro  in  his  good  day.  It  is  necessary  however  to  keep  a  look 
out  during  this  season  of  unbounded  freedom;  and  every 
man  on  the  Island  is  in  arms  and  patrols  go  all  round  the 
different  plantations  as  well  as  keep  guard  in  the  town.  They 
are  an  excellent  disciplined  Militia  and  make  a  very  military 
appearance.*  My  dear  old  Coll.  was  their  commander  up- 
wards of  forty  years,  and  resigned  his  command  only  two 
years  ago,  yet  says  with  his  usual  spirits,  if  his  country  need 
his  service,  he  is  ready  again  to  resume  his  arms. 

Every  body  here  is  fond  of  dancing,  and  [they]  have  fre- 
quent balls.  We  have  been  at  several,  very  elegant  and  heart- 
some,  particularly  one  at  a  Doctor  Muir's,f  whose  daughters 
were  Fanny's  boarding  school  acquaintance,  fine  girls,  with 
a  most  excellent  mother,  who  tho'  even  beyond  Embonpoint 
began  the  ball  and  danced  the  whole  evening,  with  her 
family  and  friends,  as  did  several  other  Ladies,  whose  ap- 
pearance did  not  promise  much  strength  or  agility.  Sir  Ralph 
and  Lady  Payn  are  now  come  back,  but  Lady  Payn  so  ill 
that  she  has  never  been  out  of  bed  since  her  arrival.  Every 
body  is  melancholy  on  account  of  her  illness,  for  by  all 
accounts  this  amiable  creature  must  soon  fall  a  sacrifice  to 
this  climate,  if  she  is  not  soon  removed  from  it.$ 

*  The  militia  of  Antigua  consisted  of  a  troop  of  horse, — carabineers  or 
light  dragoons, — three  regiments  of  foot,  known  as  the  red,  blue,  and  green, 
one  independent  company  of  foot,  and  one  company  of  artillery.  Service  in 
the  militia  was  obligatory  from  14  to  45.  Colonel  Martin  was  at  the  head 
of  these  forces  for  upwards  of  forty  years.  In  1773  Sir  Ralph  Payne  became 
colonel  of  the  carabineers. 

fDr.  John  Muir  married  Eleanor  Knight  in  1757.  He  died  in  1798.  Their 
daughters  were  Fanny's  boarding  school  acquaintances  in  Scotland  and  must 
have  been  about  her  own  age. 

$  Governor  Payne's  correspondence  confirms  Miss  Schaw's  statements  in 
all  particulars.  The  governor  left  Antigua  with  Lady  Payne,  in  the  summer 
of  1774,  for  a  tour  of  the  islands  under  his  jurisdiction,  and  was  away  when 
Miss  Schaw  arrived.  He  was  at  St.  Christopher  in  October  and  soon  after- 
wards at  Montserrat,  returning  to  Antigua  after  Christmas  but  before  the 
end  of  the  year.  As  his  wife  was  in  poor  health,  he  had  already  applied  to 


no     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

My  brother  has  been  returned  these  two  days,  and  is  so 
charmed  with  the  other  Islands,*  that  he  would  persuade  us, 
all  I  have  seen  is  nothing  to  them.  It  will  not  be  easy  how- 
ever to  make  me  believe  it  possible  to  excel  Antigua.  I  will 
not  deny  I  am  partial  to  this  delightful  spot,  and  go  where 
I  will,  my  heart  will  retain  a  grateful  sense  of  the  hospitable 
reception  we  have  met  with,  and  the  numberless  civilities 
we  have  received  from  every  Individual.  He  talks  much  of 
the  advantage  they  have  as  to  water,  a  circumstance,  in 
which  no  doubt  this  Island  is  defective,  yet  their  industry 
has  rendered  it  of  less  inconveniency,  than  you  who  enjoy  the 
roaring  streams  of  Athole  could  believe.  They  have  not  only 
plenty  for  domestick  use  by  their  attention,  and  even  streams 
through  the  cane-pieces,  but  in  our  route  up  the  Island,  we 
often  met  rivers  that  came  up  to  the  horses'  belly,  and  had 
I  not  been  in  the  secret,  would  never  have  dreamt  that  they 
were  the  work  of  Art.  The  cisternsf  in  which  the  water  for 
family-use  is  kept  are  extremely  well  calculated  to  preserve 
it  cool  and  fresh  a  great  while,  and  what  they  use  for  drink- 
Lord  Dartmouth  for  permission  to  go  to  England  and  found  the  secretary's 
letter  of  consent  awaiting  him  on  his  return.  In  a  letter  of  February  7,  1775, 
he  wrote  Dartmouth :  "Lord  Mansfield's  intercession  with  your  Lordship  for 
his  Majesty's  permission  for  me  to  conduct  Lady  Payne  to  England,  for  the 
reestablishment  of  her  health,  does  me  the  greatest  honour.  I  have  indeed  for 
a  twelvemonth  past  entertained  the  most  anxious  desire  of  paying  a  short 
visit  to  England,  but  did  [not  make  application]  until  the  month  of  last 
October,  when  Lady  Payne's  health  appeared  to  me  to  have  arrived  at  so 
dangerous  a  crisis  (and  my  own  was  so  materially  impair'd  as  to  create  a 
despair  in  me  of  its  reestablishment  without  the  aid  of  a  northern  climate) 
that  I  determined  to  submit  my  domestic  situation  to  your  Lordship's 
humanity"  (Public  Record  Office,  C.  O.  152:55).  He  said  further  that  Lady 
Payne  had  not  quitted  her  bedchamber  twice  in  the  "last  six  weeks."  Dating 
back  from  February  7,  this  would  bring  the  return  to  Antigua  to  December 
27,  two  days  after  Christmas,  which  accords  well  with  Miss  Schaw's  remarks. 

*  Nevis,  Montserrat,  and  St.  Christopher. 

f  The  cisterns  are  thus  described  by  a  traveler.  "The  only  water  in  this 
country  fit  for  the  use  of  men  and  animals  is  that  which  is  collected  in  tanks 
or  cisterns  of  mason-work,  sunk  underground,  over  which  a  concave  stone  or 
brick  cover  is  usually  placed,  to  collect  the  rain  when  it  falls,  with  a  hole  in 
the  centre  for  it  to  run  through.  They  have  also  on  every  plantation  large 
ponds  lined  with  clay."  (Oliver,  I,  cxxx.) 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          1 1 1 

ing  and  table  passes  thro'  a  filtering  stone  into  a  lead  or 
Marble  reservoir,  by  which  means  it  becomes  more  lucid  and 
pure  than  any  water  I  ever  saw.  This  is  placed  in  some 
shaded  corner,  and  is  generally  so  cold,  that  it  makes  one's 
teeth  chatter.  It  is  presented  to  you  in  a  Cocoa  nut  shell  orna- 
mented with  Silver,  at  the  end  of  a  hickory  handle.  This  is 
lest  the  breath  of  the  Servant  who  presents  it  should  con- 
taminate its  purity. 

At  the  end  of  the  town  of  S*  John's,  there  is  a  noble  bath- 
ing house  close  on  the  Sea,  where  the  water  is  strained  thro' 
many  calenders  or  Sieves  to  prevent  the  smallest  particle  of 
Sand  from  entering  the  baths,  the  bottoms  of  which  are 
polished  Marble,  and  every  thing  done  that  can  render  it 
most  deliciously  cool.  It  consists  of  many  large  apartments, 
where  you  can  bathe  in  what  manner  you  please.  These  have 
each  a  dressing  room  with  every  conveniency,  and  seem  the 
contrivance  of  luxury  itself.  It  is  shaded  from  the  land  side 
with  palmetto  and  cocoa  nut  trees,  under  whose  umbrage 
grow  a  number  of  European  plants,  but  tho'  you  would 
think,  this  must  be  one  of  the  most  agreeable  things  in  the 
world,  and  is  indeed  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  health, 
yet  it  is  very  little  frequented,  and  will  soon,  they  say,  be 
given  up  entirely. 

As  I  am  now  about  to  leave  them,  you,  no  doubt,  will  ex- 
pect me,  to  give  my  opinion  as  fully  on  the  Inhabitants,  as 
I  have  done  on  their  Island  and  manners,  but  I  am  afraid 
you  will  suspect  me  of  partiality,  and  were  I  to  speak  of 
Individuals,  perhaps  you  might  have  reason,  but  as  to  the 
characters  in  general  I  can  promise  to  write  without  preju- 
dice, and  if  I  only  tell  truth,  they  have  nothing  to  fear  from 
my  pen.  I  think  the  men  the  most  agreeable  creatures  I  ever 
met  with,  frank,  open,  generous,  and  I  dare  say  brave ;  even 
in  advanced  life  they  retain  the  Vivacity  and  Spirit  of  Youth; 
they  are  in  general  handsome,  and  all  of  them  have  that  sort 
of  air,  that  will  ever  attend  a  man  of  fashion.  Their  address 


112     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

is  at  once  soft  and  manly;  they  have  a  kind  of  gallantry  in 
their  manner,  which  exceeds  mere  politeness,  and  in  some 
countries,  we  know,  would  be  easily  mistaken  for  something 
more  interesting  than  civility,  yet  you  must  not  suppose  this 
the  politeness  of  French  manners,  merely  words  of  course. 
No,  what  they  say,  they  really  mean;  their  whole  intention 
is  to  make  you  happy,  and  this  they  endeavour  to  do  with- 
out any  other  view  or  motive  than  what  they  are  prompted 
to  by  the  natural  goodness  of  their  own  natures.  In  short,  my 
friend,  the  woman  that  brings  a  heart  here  will  have  little 
sensibility  if  she  carry  it  away. 

I  hear  you  ask  me,  if  there  is  no  alloy  to  this  fine  character, 
no  reverse  to  this  beautiful  picture.  Alas!  my  friend,  tho' 
children  of  the  Sun,  they  are  mortals,  and  as  such  must  have 
their  share  of  failings,  the  most  conspicuous  of  which  is,  the 
indulgence  they  give  themselves  in  their  licentious  and  even 
y  unnatural  amours,  which  appears  too  plainly  from  the 
crouds  of  Mullatoes,  which  you  meet  in  the  streets,  houses 
and  indeed  every  where;  a  crime  that  seems  to  have  gained 
sanction  from  custom,  tho'  attended  with  the  greatest  in- 
conveniences not  only  to  Individuals,  but  to  the  publick  in 
general.*  The  young  black  wenches  lay  themselves  out  for 
white  lovers,  in  which  they  are  but  too  successful.  This  pre- 
vents their  marrying  with  their  natural  mates,  and  hence  a 
spurious  and  degenerate  breed,  neither  so  fit  for  the  field, 
nor  indeed  any  work,  as  the  true  bred  Negro.  Besides  these 
wenches  become  licentious  and  insolent  past  all  bearing,  and 
as  even  a  mulattoe  child  interrupts  their  pleasures  and  is 
troublesome,  they  have  certain  herbs  and  medicines,  that 

*  "Many  of  these  gentlemen-managers,  as  well  as  the  overseers  under 
them,  contribute,  in  a  great  degree,  to  stock  the  plantation  with  mulatto  and 
mestee  slaves.  It  is  impossible  to  say  in  what  number  they  have  such  children, 
but  the  following  fact  is  too  often  verified,  'that,  as  soon  as  born,  they  are 
despised,  not  only  by  the  very  authors,  under  God,  of  their  being,  but  by 
every  white,  destitute  of  humane  and  liberal  principles,'  such  is  the  regard 
paid  to  the  hue  of  complexion  in  preference  to  the  more  permanent  beauties 
of  the  mind"  (Brief  Account,  pp.  45-46). 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          113 

free  them  from  such  an  incumbrance,  but  which  seldom  fails 
to  cut  short  their  own  lives,  as  well  as  that  of  their  offspring. 
By  this  many  of  them  perish  every  year.  I  would  have  gladly 
drawn  a  veil  over  this  part  of  a  character,  which  in  every 
thing  else  is  most  estimable. 

As  to  the  women,  they  are  in  general  the  most  amiable 
creatures  in  the  world,  and  either  I  have  been  remarkably 
fortunate  in  my  acquaintance,  or  they  are  more  than  com- 
monly sensible,  even  those  who  have  never  been  off  the 
Island  are  amazingly  intelligent  and  able  to  converse  with 
you  on  any  subject.  They  make  excellent  wives,  fond  atten- 
tive mothers  and  the  best  house  wives  I  have  ever  met  with. 
Those  of  the  first  fortune  and  fashion  keep  their  own  keys 
and  look  after  every  thing  within  doors;  the  domestick 
Economy  is  entirely  left  to  them;  as  the  husband  finds 
enough  to  do  abroad.  A  fine  house,  an  elegant  table,  hand- 
some carriage,  and  a  croud  of  mullatoe  servants  are  what 
they  all  seem  very  fond  of.  The  sun  appears  to  affect  the 
sexes  very  differently.  While  the  men  are  gay,  luxurious  and 
amorous,  the  women  are  modest,  genteel,  reserved  and  tem- 
perate. This  last  virtue  they  have  indeed  in  the  extreme; 
they  drink  nothing  stronger  in  general  than  Sherbet,  and 
never  eat  above  one  or  two  things  at  table,  and  these  the 
lightest  and  plainest.  The  truth  is,  I  can  observe  no  indul- 
gence they  allow  themselves  in,  not  so  much  as  in  scandal, 
and  if  I  stay  long  in  this  country,  I  will  lose  the  very  idea 
of  that  innocent  amusement;  for  since  I  resided  amongst 
them,  I  have  never  heard  one  woman  say  a  wrong  thing  of 
another.  This  is  so  unnatural,  that  I  suppose  you  will  (good 
naturedly)  call  it  cunning;  but  if  it  is  so,  it  is  the  most  com- 
mendable cunning  I  ever  met  with,  as  nothing  can  give  them 
a  better  appearance  in  the  eyes  of  a  stranger. 

As  we  became  better  acquainted,  their  reserve  wore  off, 
and  I  now  find  them  most  agreeable  companions.  Jealousy  is 
a  passion  with  which  they  are  entirely  unacquainted,  and 


1 14     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

a  jealous  wife  would  be  here  a  most  ridiculous  character 
indeed.  Let  me  conclude  this  by  assuring  you,  that  I  never 
admired  my  own  sex  more  than  in  these  amiable  Creoles.* 
Their  Sentiments  are  just  and  virtuous;  in  religion  they  are 
serious  without  ostentation,  and  perform  every  duty  with 
pleasure  from  no  other  motive  but  the  consciousness  of  doing 
right.  In  their  persons  they  are  very  genteel,  rather  too  thin 
till  past  thirty,  after  that  they  grow  plump  and  look  much 
the  better  for  it.  Their  features  are  in  general  high  and  very 
regular,  they  have  charming  eyes,  fine  teeth,  and  the  greatest 
quantity  of  hair  I  ever  saw,  which  they  dress  with  taste,  and 
wear  a  great  deal  of  powder.  In  short,  they  want  only  colour 
to  be  termed  beautiful,  but  the  sun  who  bestows  such  rich 
taints  on  every  other  flower,  gives  none  to  his  lovely  daugh- 
ters; the  tincture  of  whose  skin  is  as  pure  as  the  lily,  and  as 
pale.  Yet  this  I  am  convinced  is  owing  to  the  way  in  which 
they  live,  entirely  excluded  from  proper  air  and  exercise. 
From  childhood  they  never  suffer  the  sun  to  have  a  peep  at 
them,  and  to  prevent  him  are  covered  with  masks  and  bon- 
nets^ that  absolutely  make  them  look  as  if  they  were  stewed. 
Fanny  who  just  now  is  blooming  as  a  new  blown  rose,  was 
prevailed  on  to  wear  a  mask,  while  we  were  on  our  Tour, 

*  Creole  is  here  used  in  its  original  meaning  of  any  one  born  in  the  West 
Indies,  irrespective  of  color.  Aspinall  says  that  a  child  born  of  white  parents 
in  Barbadoes,  for  example,  was  a  'creole'  of  that  island  and  that  the  word 
is  applied  to  animals  and  even  to  produce,  it  being  not  unusual  to  speak  of  a 
'creole'  pig  or  'creole'  corn  (British  West  Indies,  p.  149).  We  read  also  of 
'creole'  regiments  (Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Colonial,  1702-1703,  pp.  440, 
441). 

t  "The  ladies,  inhabitants  of  this  place,  seldom  walk  the  streets  or  ride 
in  their  wiskys,  without  masks  or  veils,  not  I  presume,  altogether  as  a  preserv- 
ative to  their  complexion,  being  frequently  seen  at  a  distance  unmasked, 
but  as  soon  as  they  are  approached  near,  on  goes  the  vizor,  thro'  which,  by 
a  couple  of  peep-holes,  about  the  size  of  an  English  shilling,  they  have  an 
opportunity  of  staring  in  the  faces  of  all  they  meet.  With  you,  this  would 
be  termed  the  grossest  ill-manners,  but  here  custom  has  established  it,  if  not 
necessary  as  fashionable.  Their  dress  is  generally  light,  and  inclined  to 
tawdry,  and  their  conversation  languid,  except  when  a  little  of  that  species 
of  harmless  chat,  which  ill-nature  has  called  scandal,  is  busy  in  circulation, 
it  is  then  they  are  volubile,  it  is  then  they  are  eloquent,  it  is  then  they  are 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          115 

which  in  a  week  changed  her  colour,  and  if  she  had  persevered 
I  am  sure  a  few  months  would  have  made  her  as  pale  as  any 
of  them.  As  to  your  humble  Servant,  I  have  always  set  my 
face  to  the  weather;  wherever  I  have  been.  I  hope  you  have 
no  quarrel  at  brown  beauty. 

The  people  of  Fashion  dress  as  light  as  possible;  worked 
and  plain  muslins,  painted  gauzes  or  light  Lutstrings  and 
Tiffities*  are  the  universal  wear.  They  have  the  fashions 
every  six  weeks  from  London,  and  London  itself  cannot 
boast  of  more  elegant  shops  than  you  meet  with  at  S*  John's, 
particularly  Mrs  Tudhope,  a  Scotch  Lady,  sister-in-law  to 
Mr  Ross,  the  writer  at  Edinburgh,  at  whose  shop  I  saw  as 
neat  done  up  things  as  ever  I  met  with  in  my  life.  She  is  a 
widow  of  a  most  amiable  character  and  generally  esteemed. 

My  brother  is  with  the  Govr  general,  but  Lady  Payn  is 
still  confined  to  bed,  so  we  will  not  be  so  happy  as  to  see  her, 
but  she  has  sent  us  a  most  polite  Message.  The  time  fixed  for 
our  departure  draws  near,  and  believe  me,  I  feel  a  most 
sincere  regret  at  leaving  a  country  and  people,  where  I  have 
been  treated  with  more  than  hospitality,  and  for  whom  I 
have  conceived  a  real  affection.  We  have  promised  to  return 
next  year,  but  God  knows  if  ever  that  may  be  in  my  power. 
No  body  expresses  more  regret  to  part  with  us  than  my  good 
friend  Mr  Baird,  who  has  been  constantly  with  us  on  all  our 
excursions,  and  for  whom  we  have  a  sincere  esteem.  He  has 
given  me  a  little  merry  dog,  which  for  its  master's  sake  will 
be  well  cared  for. 

We  are  now  come  to  town,  and  to  morrow  are  to  leave  this 
charming  spot,  whose  engaging  inhabitants  are  so  sorry  to 
part  with  us,  and  express  their  regret  in  such  terms,  as  is  like 

equal  to  any  women  in  the  world"  (Brief  Account,  pp.  35-36).  Further  com- 
ments on  marriage,  domestic  life,  abstemiousness,  and  virtue  bear  out  Miss 
Schaw's  observations. 

*  Lutestring  or  lustring  was  a  kind  of  glossy  silk,  much  worn  in  the  West 
Indies  and  the  continental  colonies.  Tiffities  or  taffetas  were  a  soft  fine  silk 
of  many  colors  and  varieties. 


n6     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

to  break  my  heart.  Mr  Mackinnon  and  good  Dr  Dunbar  have 
begged  us  to  leave  the  boys  with  them,  till  the  ship  is  cleared 
to  follow  us  to  S*  Kitt's.  Our  Emigrants  are  all  disposed  of 
to  their  hearts  contentment,  except  two  families,  who,  steady 
to  their  first  idea,  persist  on  going  forward  to  America ;  one 
of  these  is  Lawson.  I  hope  we  will  prevail  on  our  friends 
to  provide  for  them  there.  As  to  those  who  have  stopped  here, 
they  are  already  so  entirely  changed  as  not  to  be  known. 
Our  little  Tailor,  whose  whole  fortune  was  his  thimble  and 
smoothing  iron,  is  now  as  pretty,  a  pert  little  fellow  as  one 
would  wish  to  see ;  has  got  four  and  six  pence  a  day,  a  good 
table  and  as  much  rum  as  he  can  drink.  This  last  article  never 
fails  to  make  room  for  new  adventures.  Mr  Halliday  has 
taken  our  Smith,*  whose  Lady  now  looks  with  disdain  on 
her  green  damask  and  is  providing  a  garden  silk  and  satin 
Capuchin.f  Those  who  live  will  not  fail  to  make  fortunes, 
but  the  change  of  living  more  than  Climate  kills  four  out  of 
five  the  first  year.  Many  of  our  friends  are  to  be  with  us 
this  evening,  and  our  little  bark  is  loaded  with  provisions  for 
many  weeks,  tho'  our  Voyage  will  be  over  in  a  few  hours, 
and  that  on  a  Sea  smooth  as  a  looking  glass;  but  the  atten- 
tion of  the  hospitable  Antiguans  knows  no  bounds.  Farewell 
till  I  write  from  S*  Kitts.  The  pain  I  feel  at  leaving  my  new 
friends  would  be  intolerable,  were  it  not  alleviated  by  the 
hope  of  meeting  others,  from  whom  I  have  long  been  parted, 
the  first  of  whom  is  Lady  Isabella  Hamilton,  to  whom  I 
know  my  arrival  will  give  sincere  pleasure.  I  wrote  her  on 
my  landing  here;  I  am  sure  she  has  counted  every  moment 
since.  I  shall  also  meet  Miss  Milliken,  a  most  amiable  girl 
for  whom  I  had  the  most  sincere  affection.  And  now  once 
more  farewell,  and  ah  me !  farewell,  Antigua. 

*  For  "our  Smith,"  see  pp.  55-56. 

t  A  cloak  and  hood  resembling  the  dress  of  a  Capuchin  monk. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          117 

Basterre  Sl  Kitts.* 

About  three  yesterday  morning,  we  got  aboard  our  little 
vessel,  but  as  we  had  not  a  breath  of  wind,  had  reason  to 
expect  a  tedious  passage.  However  we  were  much  pleased 
with  our  Transport,  which  tho'  no  larger  than  a  Kinghorn 
boat,f  was  neat  clean  and  commodious.  Our  little  Cabin  was 
furnished  with  two  neat  Settees,  a  cupboard  with  Tea-equi- 
page, glasses  and  punch  cups,  and  indeed  with  whatever  could 
render  it  agreeable  and  convenient.  As  none  of  us  had  got  to 
bed  before  we  left  Antigua,  we  were  much  fatigued,  and 
willing  to  forget  that  we  were  quitting  that  charming  Island, 
with  its  hospitable  inhabitants.  Fanny  and  I  lay  down  on  the 
Settees  and  slept,  till  we  were  waked  to  breakfast,  where  we 
found  excellent  Tea,  coffee  and  chocolate,  which  were  most 
comfortable  in  our  present  Situation.  Breakfast  over,  my 
brother  carried  us  on  deck  screened  with  our  Umbrelas, 
which  black  Rob*  held  over  us,  while  he,  in  company  with 

*  "Saint  Christopher,"  says  Governor  Payne,  in  his  "Answers  to  Queries," 
"(the  southeast  part  of  which  is  divided  from  the  northwest  part  of  Nevis 
by  a  narrow  channel  of  scarcely  a  league  in  breadth),  lies  in  latitude  17"  18' 
north  and  longitude  62"  40'  west  from  the  meridian  of  London,  and  contains 
68  square  miles  and  43,726  acres  of  land.  Half  of  the  island  or  thereabouts 
is  an  exceedingly  fertile,  gravelly  and  sandy  soil ;  mix'd  in  some  places  with 
a  very  small  proportion  of  clay,  but  without  marie ;  and  the  soil  of  this 
nature  produces  sugar  canes.  The  other  half  is  no  where  so  fertile  nor  is  it  at 
all  fit  for  the  cultivation  of  sugar  canes :  but  in  some  parts  of  it  are  pro- 
duc'd  edible  roots,  and  -pulse  of  various  kinds,  together  with  some  cotton  and 
a  small  quantity  of  coffee  and  cocoa ;  and  in  other  places,  it  is  almost  inac- 
cessible from  its  situation  on  the  sides  and  tops  of  steep  mountains  and 
craggy  hills,  which  produce  shrubs  and  different  sorts  of  woods  of  little  or 
no  value.  If  any  one  of  the  islands  deserves  a  pre-eminent  character  over  the 
others  for  the  salubrity  of  its  air  and  the  general  health  of  its  inhabitants, 
it  is  certainly  Saint  Christopher." 

"Neither  in  Saint  Christopher,  Nevis,  or  Montserrat  are  there  any  har- 
bours at  all  and  the  shipping  of  all  sizes  and  denominations  anchor  in  open 
roads  and  bays.  There  are  at  Saint  Christopher  1900  white  inhabitants,  417 
free  negroes  and  mulattoes,  and  23462  slaves." 

"The  principal  port,  Basseterre,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  island,  is 
divided  into  two  parishes,  Saint  Peter  Basseterre  and  Saint  George  Basse- 
terre ;  the  first  is  on  low  ground,  the  second  slightly  higher,  both  have  less 
rain  and  suffer  more  by  the  want  of  it  than  the  other  [seven]  parishes." 

t  Kinghorn  was  a  seaport  of  Fife,  a  few  miles  east  of  Burntisland. 


1 18     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

our  Cap1  went  a  fishing  to  procure  us  something  from  that 
Element  to  furnish  out  our  table,  while  Fanny  and  myself 
hung  over  the  side  of  the  Vessel,  hardly  able  to  support  our 
languid  existence,  and  you  may  judge  what  we  must  have 
been  suffering  under  this  Tropical  heat,  where  there  was  not 
a  breeze  to  ruffle  the  face  of  the  Sea,  in  which  we  could  dis- 
tinctly view  our  own  shadows. 

A  kingfish  was  soon  caught  which  was  cut  into  jumps  and 
laid  in  the  Sun,  watered  with  Sea  water,  which  presently 
became  salt  on  it  from  the  excessive  heat,  and  after  having 
gone  thro'  the  necessary  operation  of  the  grid-iron  was  served 
to  dinner.  There  is  nothing  that  diverts  lassitude  equal  to 
eating  or  even  looking  at  meat,  and  I  have  often  observed 
that  those  people  who  can  neither  work  nor  think  are  per- 
petually longing  for  the  next  meal,  and  constantly  abusing 
fashion  that  has  now  placed  them  at  such  a  distance  from 
each  other;  but  as  we  had  no  forms  to  observe,  we  gave  way 
to  our  desire  of  taking  the  only  exercise  in  our  power,  that  of 
moving  our  jaws,  as  every  thing  else  was  listless  and  inac- 
tive. Accordingly  we  had  an  early  dinner,  where  our  table 
was  once  more  set  forth  by  the  benevolence  of  our  Antiguan 
friends,  which,  joined  to  the  produce  of  our  own  industry  in 
providing  fish,  made  a  most  excellent  dinner,  tho'  to  say 
truth,  the  fruit  was  the  only  thing  eat  with  satisfaction,  for 
the  heat  was  become  past  all  bearing.  After  drinking  tea  and 
coffee,  Miss  Rutherfurd  and  I  threw  ourselves  again  on  the 
Settees,  while  black  Rob*  with  a  large  fan  sat  fanning  us 
alternately,  till  we  fell  both  fast  asleep. 

How  long  we  slept  I  know  not,  but  when  I  waked  it  was 
quite  dark,  and  I  found  myself  very  dreary,  as  not  an  object 
was  to  be  discerned,  nor  a  sound  heard.  At  least  I  heard 
something  breathing  on  the  floor  of  the  Cabin,  and  I  ven- 
tured to  put  down  my  hand  to  feel  what  it  was,  but  how 
much  was  I  shocked  to  find  it  no  other  than  my  poor  brother 
fast  asleep  on  the  bare  boards,  sweating  till  every  stitch  of 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          1 19 

his  cloths  were  wet  thro'  with  it.  Dangerous  as  his  situation 
was,  I  could  not  find  in  my  heart  to  wake  him.  Miss  Ruther- 
f urd  too  was  as  sound  as  he,  tho'  fortunately  on  a  better  bed ; 
so  thinking  the  only  service  in  my  power  was  to  relieve  the 
cabin  of  the  heat  of  one  breath,  I  crept  up  as  softly  as  I  was 
able  thro'  the  little  hatch,  and  reached  the  deck.  All  was 
silent  as  death,  not  a  sound  to  be  heard,  except  that  of  four 
Oars  which  moved  softly  on  the  surface,  and  scarcely  pro- 
duced a  dashing  on  that  vast  Sea ;  it  was  entirely  dark ;  how- 
ever I  reached  about  to  find  a  wicker-chair,  which  I  remem- 
bered was  fixed  to  the  mast.  It  required  some  precaution  to 
get  safely  to  it,  in  which  however  I  succeeded,  and  tho'  not 
without  difficulty  seated  myself  in  it.  The  absence  of  the 
sun  had  diminished  the  intense  heat,  and  tho'  the  air  still 
retained  a  great  degree  of  warmness,  it  was  very  sufferable. 
As  I  had  no  external  object  to  entertain  me,  my  eyes  natu- 
rally turned  within,  and  I  soon  found  amusement  from  joys 
that  were  past,  pleasingly  mournful  to  my  soul.  What  would 
become  of  me,  if  I  was  unacquainted  with  your  three  favour- 
ite authors  David,  Job  and  Ossian?  How  often  do  they 
afford  me  words  when  I  should  find  none  so  apt  from  myself. 
If  you  call  this  pleasure  I  will  not  deny  it,  but  wish  rather 
they  could  afford  me  language  to  serve  my  present  purpose 
and  enable  me  to  describe  to  you  a  western  sun  rising  in 
all  his  glory,  surrounded  with  splendours  that  the  human  eye 
is  hardly  able  to  sustain.  No  Aurora  precedes  him,  no  rosy 
finger'd  Nymphs  unbar  the  doors  of  the  morning  and  an- 
nounce his  approach,  but  he  bursts  from  his  cloud  at  once 
and  flashes  on  you  with  such  a  blaze  of  glory,  as  recals  to 
the  mind  Milton's  description  of  the  creating  power  going 
forth  to  command  worlds  into  being;  and  such  indeed  was 
the  present  effect  of  his  appearance,  as  I  instantly  found 
myself  not  only  surrounded  by  common  objects,  but  by  new 
worlds  which  seemed  at  his  sight  to  lift  their  heads  from  this 
unbounded  Ocean. 


12O     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

You  will  easily  guess  we  were  now  among  the  Leeward 
Islands,  several  of  which  were  in  sight  at  once,  and  made  a 
most  delightful  and  pleasing  appearance.  We  distinctly  saw 
both  Nevise  and  Montsarat;  very  fine  Islands,  but  far  in- 
ferior to  S*  Kitt's,  which  now  appeared  crowned  with  wood- 
covered  Mountains.  Noble  however  as  this  morning  scene 
might  be  made  in  description,  it  affords  not  the  soft  satisfac- 
tion that  the  mind  feels  from  the  rising  sun  on  a  summer 
morning  in  your  cool  Hemisphere,  and  tho',  to  my  shame  be 
it  spoken,  that  was  one  of  the  Arcanas  of  Nature,  into  which 
my  curiosity  seldom  pryed,  yet  I  now  recollected  with  a 
pleasing  regret  the  soft  dawn,  the  dew-bespangled  lawn,  with 
all  that  delightful  coolness,  which  I  am  not  to  expect  under 
a  Tropical  Sun. 

We  soon  came  to  an  anchor  in  the  road  of  Basterre,  in 
which  were  riding  many  fine  Vessels.  From  our  situation  we 
had  an  extensive  prospect  of  that  side  of  the  Island,  which 
lay  next  us,  which  tho'  very  beautiful  is  different  from  the 
first  view  we  had  of  Antigua,  which  rises  on  you  by  degrees. 
As  you  go  up  the  bay,  the  plantations  on  the  rising  grounds 
are  noble,  and  the  cane  pieces  wear  a  superior  green  to  those 
at  Antigua.  I  was  particularly  showed  the  habitation  of  my 
friend  Lady  Bell  Hamilton.*  It  appears  magnificent  at  a 
distance,  and  I  am  assured  is  not  less  so  when  you  get  to  it. 

*  Lady  Isabella,  or  Lady  Belle  as  she  was  commonly  called,  was  Isabella 
Erskine,  daughter  of  the  10th  Earl  of  Buchan  and  sister  of  David  Stuart, 
Lord  Erskine,  later  the  nth  earl,  the  "fussy  and  intermeddling"  patron  of 
art,  letters,  and  antiquities.  Her  other  brothers  were  Henry,  the  lord  advo- 
cate, and  Thomas,  the  lord  chancellor.  She  was  married  at  Tunbridge  Wells, 
England,  January  21,  1770,  to  William  Leslie  Hamilton,  a  prominent  planter 
and  attorney  of  St.  Christopher,  speaker  of  the  house,  member  of  the  council, 
and  attorney-general,  1779.  In  July  of  the  latter  year,  on  account  of  dangers 
attending  the  American  War,  Lady  Belle  returned  to  England  in  the  Mary, 
Captain  Beatty,  and  her  husband  followed  her  the  next  year.  He  landed  at 
Portsmouth,  October  5,  1780,  but  died  suddenly  at  London,  four  days  after 
his  arrival,  before  his  wife  could  reach  his  bedside  (Gentleman's  Magazine, 
1780,  p.  495).  Her  brother,  David,  was  the  only  member  of  the  family  present 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  On  April  3,  1785,  Lady  Belle  married  again,  the 
Right  Honorable  and  Reverend  John,  last  Earl  of  Glencairn,  who  died 


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ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          121 

The  town  of  Basterre  is  scarcely  seen  from  the  Sea,  and  the 
few  houses  that  are  visible  give  you  but  a  very  poor  idea  of 
the  rest;  indeed  its  very  name  informs  you  of  its  situation. 

We  landed  by  a  boat*  from  one  of  the  ships  nearest  the 
town,  but  had  a  third  Voyage  to  make,  which  was  on  the 
back  of  Negroes,  and  tho'  there  was  not  a  breath  of  wind, 
we  were  much  wet  and  incommoded  by  the  Surge.  We  soon 
however  reached  an  excellent  Inn,  and  were  welcomed  to  the 
Island  by  a  jolly  English  Landlady,  who  got  us  a  dish  of 
excellent  Tea;  my  friend  the  goat  attending,  and  as  far  as 
I  can  see,  every  thing  just  the  same  as  at  Antigua. 

Here  we  found  a  gentleman,  who  by  Lady  Bell's  desire 
had  been  several  days  in  waiting:  as  I  had  wrote  her  from 
Antigua,  and  made  her  expect  us  much  sooner  than  we 
arrived.  He  presented  me  a  letter  from  her  Ladyship,  which 
he  politely  said  was  his  credentials,  and  entitled  him  to  the 
honour  of  attending  us  to  the  Olovaze,f  where  our  friends 
impatiently  waited  us.  Lady  Bell's  letter  was  in  the  style  I 
had  reason  to  expect  from  so  dear  a  friend.  She  told  me  Mr 
Hamilton  had  been  ill,  which  prevented  her  coming  down  to 
meet  us,  but  intreated  I  would  let  Mr  Moor,  a  near  relation 
and  particular  friend  of  Mr  Hamilton's,  conduct  me  imme- 
diately to  her  with  my  other  friends.  With  this  request  I 
would  have  instantly  complied,  did  not  some  particular  busi- 

September  24,  1796.  She  herself  died  at  Boulogne,  May  17,  1824,  without 
issue  by  either  husband  (id.,  1824,  p.  177).  For  "Olivees"  and  Hamilton's 
troubles  during  the  war,  see  Appendix  III. 

*  Davy  in  1846  landed  at  Basseterre  in  an  open  boat  (West  Indies,  p.  461). 

fThe  name  of  the  Hamilton  plantation  was  "Olivees,"  the  form  of  the 
word  contained  in  Lady  Isabella's  memorial.  In  the  British  Museum  manu- 
script it  is  written  "Olovaze"  and  in  that  of  Colonel  Vetch,  "Olivese."  The 
word  is  evidently  French  in  origin  and  was  probably  derived  from  the  name 
of  a  previous  owner.  In  1704,  Governor  Codrington  granted  to  Lieutenant 
David  Dunbar,  "for  his  service  in  the  reduceing  the  French  part  of  this  Is- 
land," the  plantation  of  a  M.  Olivie  of  150  acres,  lying  to  the  westward  of 
Monkey  Hill  in  Basseterre  quarter  (C.  O.  152:42,  no.  i).  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  plantation  thus  granted  was  the  one  which  Miss  Schaw  visited 
and  that  the  name  "Olivees"  means  simply  Olivie's  plantation. 


122     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

ness  oblige  my  Brother  to  stay  in  town  some  hours,  part  of 
which  time  I  have  strolled  about  the  town  with  Mr  Moor 
and  some  other  Gentlemen,  and  am  much  pleased  with  it  on 
a  nearer  inspection.  The  best  houses  lie  up  the  town  and  have 
an  extensive  prospect  and  airy  situation;  tho'  all  of  wood, 
they  are  very  neat,  and  some  of  them  ornamented  with  carv- 
ings on  the  outside.  They  in  general  lie  more  off  the  street 
than  those  at  Sl  John's,  and  have  very  pretty  parterres*  be- 
fore them  and  are  shaded  with  cocoa  or  palmetto  trees.  I  was 
showed  that  intended  for  my  brother,  which  is  very  hand- 
some, and  has  not  only  a  parterre  in  front,  but  a  large  orange 
grove  behind  it.  We  were  presented  with  play  bills,  but  I 
wish  I  may  be  able  to  bear  the  heat  even  in  the  open  air. 
They  are  strollers  of  some  spirit  who  have  strolled  across  the 
Atlantick. 

Poor  Fanny  is  so  overcome  with  heat  and  fatigue,  that  she 
has  been  asleep  these  two  hours.  My  brother  is  not  yet  re- 
turned, and  I  have  spent  my  time  in  my  most  agreeable 
amusement,  recounting  to  you  what  your  partiality  to  the 
writer  will  make  interesting.  My  next  will  be  from  the 
Olovaze,  and  I  hope  more  entertaining.  The  Comptroller, 
Mr  Gratehead,f  has  promised  to  get  this  away  to  morrow. 

The  Olovaze. 

This  is  the  first  time  you  have  had  reason  to  accuse  me  of 
neglect,  for  tho'  I  have  been  at  the  Olovaze  above  a  week, 
this  is  really  the  first  time  I  have  taken  up  my  pen.  All  I  can 
say  is  that  had  you  been  in  my  place,  you  would  not  yet 
have  done  it. 

With  what  inexpressible  pleasure  do  I  again  view  the 
unaltered  features  of  my  lovely  friend.  Tho'  the  lily  has  far 
got  the  better  of  the  rose,  she  is  as  beautiful  as  ever,  nor  can 

*  Parterres,  that  is,  flower  gardens. 

f  Craister  Greatheed  was  a  prominent  attorney  and  politician  of  St.  Chris- 
topher, comptroller  of  the  customs  and  president  of  the  council. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          123 

her  mind  be  changed  from  time.  I  found  in  her  the  same 
warm  affection  and  as  amiable  a  friend  as  when  we  parted. 
A  four  years'  separation  had  given  us  sufficient  to  say  to 
each  other;  and  would  we  have  indulged  our  inclinations, 
we  would  not  have  permitted  any  interruption.  But  I  found 
a  new  friend  who  claimed  my  attention  in  every  respect — Mr 
Hamilton  the  husband  of  Lady  Isabella  and  one  of  the  most 
estimable  of  his  sex.  A  woman  never  forgets  the  person  of 
a  man,  and  I  assure  you  Mr  Hamilton  is  well  worth  the 
painting.  Let  it  however  suffice  to  tell  you  that  they  are  the 
best  matched  pair  I  ever  saw :  his  masculine  beauty  not  being 
inferior  to  her  feminine.  He  is  about  twenty  six  or  twenty 
seven,  tall  and  elegantly  made ;  his  shape  uncommonly  easy, 
his  complexion  dark  brown-nut,  his  eyes  dark  and  penetrat- 
ing, yet  soft,  his  manners  at  once  genteel  and  manly;  far 
from  giving  way  to  pleasure  and  indolence,  he  applies  with 
avidity  to  business.  He  has  raised  himself  to  the  first  employ- 
ments and  the  first  business  on  all  the  Islands  as  a  Lawyer. 
The  elegance  in  which  they  live  is  not  to  be  described,  and 
whatever  I  have  said  of  the  table  of  Antigua  is  to  be  found 
here,  even  in  a  superior  taste.  Never  was  so  agreeable  a  Land- 
lady; she  presides  at  her  table  with  a  degree  of  ease  that 
gives  every  thing  a  double  relish,  nor  does  she  leave  you  a 
wish  unfulfilled.  Tho'  Mr  Hamilton's  temper  has  not  in  it 
the  least  levity,  yet  his  conversation  is  extremely  lively,  and 
the  brilliancy  of  Lady  Bell's  wit  seems  much  improven,  as 
she  has  it  under  a  perfect  command,  and  never  says  a  thing 
to  give  offence.  This  was  not  the  case  when  she  first  came 
amongst  the  folk  here.  She  was  more  lively  than  what  they 
were  accustomed  to,  and  they  often  mistook  her  Vivacity, 
which  for  sometime  made  her  not  so  popular  as  she  now  is. 
When  I  first  entered  the  great  hall  at  the  Olovaze,  I  was 
charmed  with  her  appearance,  but  she  gave  me  little  time  to 
contemplate  that,  till  she  flew  into  my  Arms.  Our  joy  was 
mutual,  as  is  our  affection.  She  had  standing  by  her  a  little 


124     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Mulatto  girl  not  above  five  years  old,  whom  she  retains  as  a 
pet.  This  brown  beauty  was  dressed  out  like  an  infant  Sul- 
tana, and  is  a  fine  contrast  to  the  delicate  complexion  of  her 
Lady.  This  hall  and  every  thing  in  it  is  superbly  fine;  the 
roof  lofty,  and  ornamented  in  a  high  degree.  It  is  between 
fifty  and  sixty  feet  long,  has  eight  windows  and  three  doors 
all  glazed;  it  is  finished  in  Mahogany  very  well  wrought, 
and  the  panels  finished  in  with  mirrors.  This  you  would  be- 
lieve would  render  the  heat  unsupportable,  which  its  situa- 
tion however  prevents,  as  it  stands  pretty  high  up  Mount 
Misery,  which  yields  a  cool  and  delightful  shade  to  the 
back  part  of  the  house,  while  the  front  has  the  sea,  shipping, 
town  and  a  great  part  of  the  Island  in  prospect,  and  the  con- 
stant sea-breeze  renders  it  most  agreeable.  The  drawing  room 
and  bed-chambers  are  entirely  fitted  up  and  furnished  in  the 
English  taste,  but  tho'  this  is  esteemed  the  finest  house  on 
any  of  the  Islands,  yet  it  has  a  most  inconvenient  situation 
for  Mr  Hamilton,  as  he  is  obliged  to  be  in  the  court  every 
morning  by  seven  o'clock,  and  toil  all  the  day  in  his  cham- 
bers, which  are  neither  large  nor  airy.  Besides  as  the  way 
from  town  up  to  Olovaze  is  steep  and  close,  it  destroys  his 
horses  and  fatigues  himself  in  the  heat,  which  he  cannot 
possibly  avoid. 

I  found  Miss  Milliken  waiting  to  meet  me,  and  Lady 
Isabella  has  engaged  her  to  stay  with  us,  while  I  am  here.  I 
was  very  happy  to  see  this  sweet  girl,  but  sorry  to  find  her 
health  and  spirits  not  what  they  were,  when  we  were  so  much 
together  in  Scotland.  She  introduced  me  to  her  friend  Miss 
Acres,  a  fine  girl,  who  is  soon  to  be  married  to  a  Scotchman* 
she  has  long  loved  and  been  beloved  by;  but  I  fear  their 
felicity  has  been  too  long  delayed  to  be  now  of  long  continu- 
ance. She  is  certainly  far  gone  in  a  consumption.  Lady  Bell 
left  Miss  Rutherfurd  when  she  was  only  a  child,  and  as  we 

*  The  Scotchman  was  Mr.  Houston,  son  of  the  Alexander  Houston  men- 
tioned on  page  133.  Miss  Akres  was  probably  a  daughter  of  Aretas  Akers 
of  St.  Kitts. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          125 

never  measure  time,  she  was  charmed  and  surprized  to  find 
her  the  woman  she  now  is,  both  she  and  Mr  Hamilton  are 
vastly  fond  of  her,  nor  is  she  less  pleased  with  them. 

Crouds  of  company  are  here  every  day,  whose  visits  we 
shall  return.  My  brother  and  Mr  Hamilton  are  mutually 
pleased  with  each  other,  and  are  never  asunder ;  he  goes  down 
with  him  every  morning  to  town  and  is  as  much  at  home  as 
you  can  imagine,  and  intimate  with  every  body.  The  great 
sugar-works  of  the  plantations  are  just  by,  and  I  have  viewed 
them  with  much  attention.  Mr  Hughes,  the  Overseer,  who  is 
a  worthy  obliging  young  man  a  great  friend  of  Mr  Hamil- 
ton's, has  been  so  good  as  shew  me  the  whole  grand  opera- 
tion, which  fabricates  one  of  the  prettiest  branches  of  the 
British  trade.  But  I  shall  first  finish  the  Olovaze  and  then 
take  a  tour  with  you  thro'  the  Island,  and  give  you  every 
thing  that  pleases  myself.  But  writing  here,  my  friend,  I 
assure  you  is  no  easy  task;  for  besides  the  heat  which  is  great, 
I  grudge  every  moment  that  takes  me  from  the  company  of 
my  friends.  We  live  in  constant  fear  of  the  arrival  of  our 
ship,  which  will  hurry  us  away,  and  we  have  not  less  than 
twenty  invitations,  and  we  dance  every  night  for  several 
hours,  from  which  no  person  is  exempted.  All  dance  from 
fifteen  to  four  score,  and  we  are  to  have  a  fine  ball  here  a 
few  days  hence,  where  the  whole  Island  are  to  be. 

I  had  a  walk  this  morning,  that  you  would  hardly  believe 
me  able  to  have  taken,  as  it  was  no  less  than  two  miles,  and 
up  hill.  This  was  truly  a  British  frolick,  and  what  no  Creole 
would  ever  dream  of.  The  ascent  however  is  not  steep,  and 
we  set  off  several  hours  before  the  sun  rose  to  a  high  planta- 
tion where  breakfast  was  provided  for  us.  The  first  part  of 
the  way  was  thro'  cane  pieces,  which  are  just  now  in  their 
greatest  glory;  but  tho'  they  excluded  the  sun,  they  also  pre- 
vented the  breeze  from  giving  us  air,  and  we  were  a  good 
deal  incommoded,  till  we  reached  what  is  first  called  the 
mountain,  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  beauties  in  nature, 


126     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  I  will  take  this  opportunity  to  describe  it.  Properly 
speaking  the  whole  Island  forms  its  base,  as  the  ascent  begins 
from  the  sea  and  rises  from  all  sides  to  the  top.  It  is  covered 
with  canes  for  about  the  third  of  the  way  up,  then  with 
myrtles,  tamarinds,  oranges  and  fruits  of  various  kinds. 
Above  that  is  a  great  variety  of  trees,  whose  verdure  is  not 
inferior  to  those  in  Britain,  and  I  am  told  the  climate  there 
approaches  to  cold;  and  that  further  up,  the  air  is  so  cold, 
that  those  who  have  tried  it,  were  instantly  seized  with 
plurisies,  and  this  I  can  easily  believe,  for  as  we  were  a  good 
deal  warmed  with  walking,  the  sudden  change  was  very 
perceptible,  and  I  was  shivering  with  cold  all  the  time  we 
were  at  breakfast. 

I  could  not  however  forbear  lengthening  my  walk,  by 
taking  a  more  particular  survey  of  the  mountain.  My  brother 
and  I  accordingly  walked  a  good  way  up  alongst  one  of  the 
streams  of  water  which  comes  down  from  it.*  It  was  at 
present  only  a  scanty  rill,  but  by  the  appearance  of  its  bed, 
is  at  times  a  large  fall.  It  divides  the  mountain  for  a  good 
way  up,  and  resembles  one  of  our  highland  burns ;  its  source 
as  well  as  the  burns  being  on  the  top.  But  how  different  is  the 
appearance  of  its  banks,  where  every  thing  most  beautiful 
in  nature  is  mixed  in  delightful  confusion.  Oranges,  limes, 
shadocks,  cherries,  citron,  papa  treesf  are  all  at  once  covered 
with  flowers  and  fruit;  besides  a  profusion  of  vines  and 
flowers  out  of  Number  we  also  saw  cotton  in  plenty,  which 
here  is  a  shrub,  as  is  Coffee.  But  they  are  generally  raised  in 

*  "There  are  three  rivulets  of  excellent  water  which  flow  into  the  sea  on 
the  south  west  part  of  Saint  Christopher"  (Payne's  "Answers  to  Queries"). 
Taking  the  island  as  a  whole,  however,  there  are  many  streams  of  varying 
size,  the  larger  of  which  are  called  "rivers,"  the  smaller  "gutts"  (Jeffrey's 
West  India  Atlas'). 

t  "Papa  trees,"  that  is,  the  pawpaw  or  papaya  tree,  a  palm-like  tree  bear- 
ing an  oblong  yellow  fruit.  "It  has  a  slender  and  bare  stem  surmounted  by  a 
crown  of  large  leaves,  whose  milky  juice  has  marked  digestive  properties. 
The  ripe  fruit  is  a  good  substitute  for  the  melon"  (Aspinall,  p.  115).  Pawpaw 
trees  are  common  in  the  United  States,  in  the  Middle  West. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          127 

cultivated  plantations,  for  tho'  they  are  all  indigenous,  they 
are  much  the  better  of  culture.  I  formerly  said  that  the 
seasons  were  united,  which  is  the  case  all  over  the  Islands, 
and  just  now  they  are  planting,  reaping  and  bruising,  in 
which  I  include  distilling.  But  tho'  perhaps  there  is  no  such 
rich  land  in  the  world  as  in  this  Island,  they  use  manure  in 
great  abundance,  and  would  be  as  glad  of  the  rakes  of  Edin- 
burgh streets  as  the  Lothian  farmers.  No  planter  is  above 
attending  to  this  grand  article,  which  is  hoarded  up  with  the 
utmost  care,  and  I  every  where  saw  large  dunghills  of  com- 
pound manure,  composed  of  the  ashes  from  the  boiling  ket- 
tle, the  bruised  canes,  the  spilt  leaves  of  the  cane,  the  clean- 
ing of  the  houses  and  dung  of  the  stables.  These  are  turned 
up  and  kept  till  proper  for  use,  and  no  infant  cane  is  placed 
in  its  pit  without  a  very  sufficient  quantity  of  this  to  bed 
and  nurse  it  up. 

The  Negroes  who  are  all  in  troops  are  sorted  so  as  to 
match  each  other  in  size  and  strength.  Every  ten  Negroes 
have  a  driver,  who  walks  behind  them,  holding  in  his  hand 
a  short  whip  and  a  long  one.  You  will  too  easily  guess  the 
use  of  these  weapons;  a  circumstance  of  all  others  the  most 
horrid.  They  are  naked,  male  and  female,  down  to  the  girdle, 
and  you  constantly  observe  where  the  application  has  been 
made.  But  however  dreadful  this  must  appear  to  a  humane 
European,  I  will  do  the  Creoles  the  justice  to  say,  they  would 
be  as  averse  to  it  as  we  are,  could  it  be  avoided,  which  has 
often  been  tried  to  no  purpose.  When  one  comes  to  be  better 
acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  Negroes,  the  horrour  of 
it  must  wear  off.  It  is  the  suffering  of  the  human  mind  that 
constitutes  the  greatest  misery  of  punishment,  but  with  them 
it  is  merely  corporeal.  As  to  the  brutes  it  inflicts  no  wound  on 
their  mind,  whose  Natures  seem  made  to  bear  it,  and  whose 
sufferings  are  not  attended  with  shame  or  pain  beyond  the 
present  moment.  When  they  are  regularly  Ranged,  each  has 
a  little  basket,  which  he  carries  up  the  hill  filled  with  the 


128     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

manure  and  returns  with  a  load  of  canes  to  the  Mill.  They 
go  up  at  a  trot,  and  return  at  a  gallop,  and  did  you  not  know 
the  cruel  necessity  of  this  alertness,  you  would  believe  them 
the  merriest  people  in  the  world. 

Since  I  am  on  the  chapter  of  Negroes  feelings,  I  must  tell 
you  that  I  was  some  days  ago  in  town,  when  a  number  for 
market  came  from  on  board  a  ship.  They  stood  up  to  be 
looked  at  with  perfect  unconcern.  The  husband  was  to  be 
divided  from  the  wife,  the  infant  from  the  mother;  but  the 
most  perfect  indifference  ran  thro'  the  whole.  They  were 
laughing  and  jumping,  making  faces  at  each  other,  and  not 
caring  a  single  farthing  for  their  fate.  This  is  not  however 
without  exception ;  and  it  behoves  the  planter  to  consider  the 
country  from  whence  he  purchases  his  slaves;  as  those  from 
one  coast  are  mere  brutes  and  fit  only  for  the  labour  of  the 
field,  while  those  from  another  are  bad  field  Negroes,  but 
faithful  handy  house-servants.  There  are  others  who  seem 
entirely  formed  for  the  mechanick  arts,  and  these  of  all 
others  are  the  most  valuable;  but  want  of  attention  to  this 
has  been  the  ruin  of  many  plantations.  Strange  as  it  may 
seem,  they  are  very  nervous  and  subject  to  fits  of  madness. 
This  is  looked  on  as  witchcraft  by  themselves,  and  there  is  a 
seer  on  every  plantation  to  whom  they  have  recourse  when 
taken  ill.  They  are  also  very  subject  to  dropsies,  by  which 
they  [the  planters]  lose  many  of  their  boilers,  who  are 
always  the  best  slaves  on  the  plantation. 

To  remedy  this  evil,  as  much  as  possible,  the  boiling 
houses  are  very  high  and  lofty,  covered  with  shelving  boards 
that  admit  the  air  freely  as  well  as  give  vent  to  the  steam.* 

*  "The  buildings,  on  a  sugar  plantation,  consist  of  a  wind  or  cattle  mill 
(sometimes  both),  a  boiling  house,  a  curing  house,  a  house  for  fermenting  the 
liquor  or  wash,  from  which  rum  is  distilled.  The  great  house  where  the  pro- 
prietor generally  resides,  the  manager's  house,  houses  for  the  overseers,  store 
houses  for  grain,  stock  houses,  and  negroe  huts.  The  negroe  houses  or  huts 
are  mostly  built  of  stone,  well  thatched,  and  as  dry  and  comfortable  as  any 
of  that  description  in  England"  (Brief  Account,  pp.  85,  88).  There  is  an 
excellent  plan  of  a  sugar  plantation  in  Oliver,  II,  308-309. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          129 

When  one  considers  the  heat  that  must  be  produced  by  four 
or  five  kettles  which  contain  not  less  than  a  Hogshead  apiece, 
and  which  requires  a  strong  clear  fire  to  boil  the  sugar  to  its 
proper  consistence,  it  is  very  wonderful  how  they  contrive  to 
render  them  so  sufferable  as  they  are.  Lady  Isabella,  Miss 
Rutherfurd  and  myself  were  in  one  of  them  last  night  above 
an  hour,  when  they  were  boiling  to  their  height,  and  were 
very  little  incommoded  by  the  heat,  and  much  entertained  by 
being  shown  the  process  of  this  great  work  from  the  first 
throwing  the  canes  into  the  mill  to  the  casking  the  sugar  and 
rum.  But  as  Mr  Hughes  is  so  good  as  to  promise  to  make  it 
out  for  me  in  writing,}):  I  will  not  attempt  to  give  a  descrip- 
tion from  myself  from  a  few  slight  observations  of  a  business 
that  requires  years  of  study  to  become  perfect  in.  My  Lady 
had  another  design,  besides  satisfying  my  curiosity  in  this 
visit  to  the  boiling  house.  There  were  several  of  the  boilers 
condemned  to  the  lash,  and  seeing  her  face  is  pardon.  Their 
gratitude  on  this  occasion  was  the  only  instance  of  sensibility 
that  I  have  observed  in  them.  Their  crime  was  the  neglect  of 
their  own  health  which  is  indeed  the  greatest  fault  they  can 
commit. 

I  have  paid  several  visits  both  in  town  and  country,  and 
have  been  at  church  in  the  town,  which  tho'  not  so  large  nor 
indeed  so  magnificently  fitted  up  as  that  at  Sl  John's,  has  an 
excellent  organ  and  every  thing  necessary  for  the  most 
solemn  parts  of  the  church  of  England-service.  We  had 
prayers  decently  and  properly  read  and  an  excellent  sermon 
from  a  Scotch  Clergyman.  Miss  Milliken  and  her  lovely 
friend  were  particularly  devout,  to  which  the  state  of  health 
they  are  both  in  no  doubt  contributed,  nor  did  they  fail  to 
have  an  effect  on  those  within  whose  observation  they  were 
placed,  even  I  myself  found  I  could  join  with  this  church 
as  a  member,  and  was  not  to  be  present  as  a  mere  Spectator 

8  Unluckily  lost.  [But  an  excellent  chapter  on  sugar-making  may  be  found 
in  Colonel  Martin's  Essay  upon  Plantership,  III.] 


130     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

when  my  heart  was  warmed.  And  I  will  venture  to  tell  you, 
tho'  you  may  laugh  at  me,  that  I  was  much  pleased  with  the 
discovery  I  made  of  myself.  For  tho'  the  whole  Island  is 
divided  into  regular  parishes,  and  each  has  a  handsome 
church,  yet  there  is  not  the  semblance  of  presbytery,  and 
much  as  I  approve  of  it  myself,  'tis  not  my  talent  to  make 
proselytes. 

The  people  in  town  live  very  well  and  are  extremely 
polite  and  hospitable,  as  they  are  every  where.  The  Stores 
are  full  of  European  commodities,  and  many  of  the  merchts 
very  rich.  They  are  a  people  I  like  vastly,  and  were  there 
nothing  to  make  me  wish  otherwise,  I  would  desire  to  live 
for  ever  with  them.  But,  oh,  my  friend !  I  again  repeat  that 
in  the  midst  of  these  inchanting  scenes  and  amongst  a  most 
agreeable  people,  I  would  prefer  a  habitation  under  a  snow- 
cover'd  mountain,  were  that  habitation  even  a  cottage.  Do 
not  suppose  however  that  I  repent,  or  in  the  least  regret  what 
I  have  done — that  is  far  from  the  case.  My  heart  approves 
my  conduct  and  that  merciful  power  who  has  guarded  and 
supported  me  thro'  numberless  trials  will  at  last  reward  that 
patience  and  fortitude  he  has  himself  inspired.  At  whatever 
time  we  meet,  I  am  certain  we  will  meet  with  unabated 
regard,  and  sufferings  past  are  pleasant  on  recollection  when 
properly  supported.  Should  we  meet  no  more  in  this  world, 
what  a  transporting  one  will  that  in  the  next  be,  where  what 
is  now  our  misery  will  become  our  glory,  and  where  care, 
anxiety  and  disappointment  are  no  more.  In  the  mean  time 
I  enjoy  all  the  felicity  that  the  friendship  and  affection  of 
the  kindest  and  best  of  brothers  can  give  me,  and  again  re- 
peat that  I  am  perfectly  satisfied. 

Miss  Milliken  and  I  took  a  long  drive  by  ourselves 
yesterday,  and  after  all  I  have  seen  I  was  surprised  at  the 
complete  cultivation  I  met  every  where.  The  whole  Island  is 
a  garden  divided  into  different  parterres.  There  is  however  a 
great  want  of  shade,  as  every  acre  is  under  sugar.  I  mean  as 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          131 

to  the  low  plantations,  for  as  to  those  up  the  hill,  they  have 
sufficient  shade  from  the  mountain.  She  shewed  me  several 
fine  plantations  belonging  to  Scotch  people,  who  do  not 
reside  on  them.  Amongst  these  is  one  belonging  to  the  Milli- 
kens.  It  is  situated  rather  high,  and  goes  by  the  name  of 
Monkey  Hill,  from  which  I  suppose  it  more  particularly 
infested  by  those  gentry,  from  which  indeed  no  part  of  the 
Island  is  entirely  free.  As  I  am  no  enemy  to  the  Pythagorean 
system,*  I  do  suppose  these  lively  and  troublesome  com- 
panions, [are  the  successors  of]  the  former  Inhabitants  of 
this  Island, f  who  you  know  were  French,  and  truly  the 
difference  is  so  little  between  one  Monkey  and  another,  that 
the  transmigration  must  have  been  very  easy,  and  as  to  the 
soul,  it  has  undergone  no  change,  but  is  French  in  all  respects, 
they  grin,  they  laugh,  they  chatter  and  make  grimaces. 
Their  frolicks  are  mischievous,  their  thefts  dextrous.  They 
are  subtle  enemies  and  false  friends.  When  pursued,  they 
fly  to  the  mountain  and  laugh  at  their  pursuers,  as  they 
are  as  little  ashamed  of  a  defeat  as  a  French  admiral  or 

*  Miss  Schaw  evidently  had  in  mind  that  part  of  the  Pythagorean  system 
which  concerns  metempsychosis  or  the  passing  of  the  soul  at  death  into  an- 
other body,  either  human  or  animal.  Something  is  wanting  in  the  text  here. 

fThe  English  colonized  St.  Christopher  in  1623,  the  French  in  1625.  By 
mutual  agreement  they  divided  the  island  into  four  quarters,  the  French 
taking  those  at  the  ends,  the  English  occupying  those  in  the  centre,  with  their 
headquarters  at  Old  Road,  Brimstone  Hill,  Sandy  Point,  and  Palmetto  Point. 
On  the  east,  the  French  controlled  Basseterre  (later  called  by  the  British 
"Bastar")  and  the  peninsula  towards  Nevis,  where  lay  the  salt  ponds. 
These  they  shared  with  the  English,  the  latter  having  a  path  to  them 
through  the  French  grounds.  The  two  peoples  lived  amicably  side  by 
side  until  1666,  when  the  French  seized  the  English  quarters  and  only 
restored  them  when  compelled  to  do  so  by  the  Treaty  of  Breda.  In  1689  they 
again  occupied  the  English  sections,  but  were  driven  out  in  1690  by  Governor 
Codrington,  the  elder.  The  status  quo  was  restored  by  the  Treaty  of  Ryswick 
in  1697.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish  Succession  the  younger 
Codrington  drove  the  French  completely  out  of  the  island,  but  in  1705-1706, 
the  French  fleet  reversed  the  situation  and  inflicted  so  much  damage  upon 
the  planters  of  St.  Christopher  and  Nevis  that  parliament  appropriated 
more  than  £100,000  to  cover  their  losses.  The  islands  were  given  to  England 
at  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  in  1713,  and  the  French  resigned  permanently  all 
their  claims  (For  the  earlier  period  see  Higham,  Leeward  Islands,  1660-1688). 


132     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

general.  In  short  they  are  the  torment  of  the  planters;  they 
destroy  whole  cane-pieces  in  a  few  hours,  and  come  in  troops 
from  the  mountain,  whose  trees  afford  them  shelter.  No 
method  to  get  the  better  of  them  has  yet  been  found  out.  I 
should  think  strong  English  dogs  the  best;  as  the  English  is 
your  only  animal  to  humble  your  French  monkey  and  settle 
his  frolicks. 

Our  Vessel  is  arrived,  my  sweet  friend  in  tears,  and  every 
body  expressing  such  concern,  that  tho'  they  please  my 
vanity,  they  break  my  heart;  but  why  are  we  thus  disconso- 
late? My  dear  friends,  we  will  meet  in  a  few  weeks.*  My 
dear  Miss  Milliken  says  no;  she  is  sure  she  will  no  more  see 
me,  till  we  meet  in  a  better  world.  Our  meeting  here  was 
most  unexpected,  and  she  says  has  beguiled  the  time  like  a 
pleasing  dream;  but  that  now  she  wakes  again  to  pain  and 
disappointment.  She  has  taken  care  of  all  our  paintings,  and 
my  brother  has  ordered  her  the  use  of  all  his  books.  I  begged 
of  her  to  copy  those  pieces  of  which  she  was  always  particu- 
larly fond,  and  also  to  let  me  find  at  my  return  some  of  those 
views,  which  we  have  so  much  admired  on  this  Island  to 
send  home  to  you,  to  whom  she  is  no  stranger.  She  said  she 
would  try,  tho'  she  feigned  she  would  not  succeed,  as  she 
believed  her  Genius  was  left  in  Britain;  that  even  her  musick 
was  not  now  what  it  had  been,  and  her  pencil  had  lost  the 
power  of  pleasing.  Never  indeed  did  I  know  any  thing  supe- 
rior to  her  in  both  those  Arts,  but  her  taste  is  too  delicate  for 
those  who  do  not  understand  them.  She  has  had  several  good 
offers  in  the  way  of  Marriage,  which,  however,  she  has  de- 
clined. Born  to  a  considerable  fortune,  and  deprived  of  it  by 
the  folly  of  a  mother,  after  receiving  an  education  suited  to 
it,  she  cannot  stoop  to  be  the  wife  of  any  one  below  her  early 
hope,  but  if  God  preserve  her,  I  hope  to  see  her  yet  happy.f 

*  Evidently  Miss  Schaw  intended  to  return  with  her  brother  to  St.  Chris- 
topher after  leaving  the  children  with  their  father  in  North  Carolina,  though 
it  is  not  likely  that  she  intended  to  remain  there  for  any  great  length  of  time. 

f  The  books  are  manifestly  those  which  Miss  Schaw  was  reading  on  ship- 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          133 

Loads  of  provisions  are  coming  from  all  quarters  for  our 
use:  a  hundred  dozen  of  limes  and  oranges,  Pine-apples, 
cocoa-nuts,  etc.,  and  my  good  friend  Mrs  Acres,  an  excellent 
old  Lady,  with  whom  I  am  quite  enamoured,  has  sent  in 
geese,  ducks,  Turkeys,  etc.,  but  this  was  needless,  as  the 
Olovaze  had  furnished  stock  for  a  much  longer  Voyage.  Here 
is  a  cart  load  of  Cocoa-nuts  for  Miss  Durham ;  they  are  to  be 
sent  aboard  with  Cap1  Graham  for  Greenock.*  Be  so  good 
as  to  order  them  with  the  sweet  meats  for  your  Sisters  to  be 
taken  care  of.  We  are  now  in  Town,  and  are  to  embark  this 
afternoon,  and  every  thing  but  our  own  persons  are  on  board. 
Cap1  Graham  waits  to  take  charge  of  the  Packet.  Oh  thou 
envied  paper !  would  I  could  inclose  myself  within  you ;  my 
body  I  cannot,  but  there  goes  my  soul  in  that,  and  that  and 
that  kiss. 

Aboard  the  Rebecca  of  Sl  Kitt's. 

My  last  informed  you  of  the  arrival  of  our  Ship  and 
family  from  Antigua,  and  that  we  were  to  leave  our  friends 

board  and  which  had  been  brought  by  Alexander  for  his  use  on  the  ship 
and  at  St.  Kitts.  The  reference  to  the  paintings  is  obscure. 

Miss  Milliken  may  have  formed  a  part  of  the  social  group  in  Edinburgh 
to  which  both  Lady  Belle  and  Miss  Schaw  belonged  and  may  have  shared 
with  them  in  devotion  to  literature,  painting,  and  music,  accomplishments 
common  to  all  ladies  of  quality  at  this  period  of  Scottish  history,  when 
culture  in  the  Athens  of  the  North  reached  the  fulness  of  its  blossoming 
and  exercised  its  maximum  influence.  Miss  Milliken  was  probably  connected 
with  the  Millikens  of  St.  Christopher,  possibly  with  Major  James  Milliken 
of  "Monkey  Hill"  plantation  (see  map  facing  p.  120),  an  estate  which  is 
still  known  by  that  name.  She  cannot  have  been  related  to  the  "Young 
Millikin"  mentioned  on  page  302,  for  the  change  of  spelling  indicates  a 
different  family.  The  reference  to  "a  considerable  fortune"  of  which  she  was 
deprived  "by  the  folly  of  a  mother"  might  furnish  a  clue  to  her  identifica- 
tion, were  it  worth  while  to  follow  it  up. 

*  Captain  Daniel  Graham  was  a  merchant  and  sea  captain,  whose  vessel, 
the  Spooner,  a  ship  of  200  tons,  16  men,  built  in  Boston,  1765,  and  registered 
in  Glasgow,  1767,  made  semiannual  trips  between  Basseterre  and  Glasgow, 
carrying  sugar  and  cotton  and  bringing  back  general  merchandise.  The  vessel 
was  owned  by  Alexander  Houston  &  Co.  of  Glasgow.  Captain  Graham 
had  a  store  at  the  head  of  Liverpool  Row,  Basseterre,  where  he  sold  dry 
goods,  oatmeal,  "jereboams  and  magnums"  of  claret,  iron  hoops  and  rivets, 
sad  irons,  etc.  (St.  Christopher  Gazette,  March  2,  1776). 


134     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

at  S*  Kitts  and  proceed  to  our  American  Vessel.  As  [it  hap- 
pened] next  day  we  enjoyed  our  friends  however  a  little 
longer  from  the  most  strange  and  unaccountable  conduct  in 
our  former  Captain,  and  for  which  we  are  yet  unable  to  dis- 
cover a  cause ;  for  no  sooner  were  our  provisions,  Our  Abigail 
and  lap-dog  got  on  board,  than  he  weighed  Anchor,  set  all 
his  sail  and  went  off  before  the  wind,  even  while  my  brother 
aboard  a  boat  was  so  near  as  to  hail  him.  Whether  Mrs 
Miller  was  betrayed  herself  into  this  affair,  or  chused  to  be 
the  single  Lady  during  this  voyage  will  appear  hereafter.  In 
the  mean  time  various  circumstances  give  but  an  unfavour- 
able idea  of  her  conduct.  We  have  however  as  yet  no  cause  to 
regret  their  flight,  as  we  were  soon  furnished  by  our  friends 
with  a  Vessel  from  Sl  Kitts,  every  way  indeed  the  reverse  of 
the  Jamaica  Packet,  for  besides  that  she  is  neat,  clean  and 
commodious,  she  is  as  slight  as  the  other  was  strong,  which 
in  our  present  sailing  signifies  little;  but  should  we  meet  a 
north  wester  on  the  coast  of  America ;  we  will  have  no  great 
reason  to  be  proud  of  our  light  Vessel.  At  present  we  appear 
as  on  a  party  of  pleasure ;  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  is  one  ex- 
panse of  bright  mirror,  which  reflects  not  only  the  sky  over 
us,  but  even  the  shadow  of  our  own  Ship,  which  makes  a  most 
beautiful  picture  in  the  water.  This,  to  be  sure,  is  very  fine 
for  the  present,  but  should  the  scene  be  deformed  with  bil- 
lows, such  as  I  have  seen,  Heaven,  I  hope,  will  take  charge 
of  us,  as  we  will  not  owe  our  safety  to  men,  the  oldest  of  our 
sailors,  whom  we  dignify  with  the  title  of  the  man,  not  being 
above  seventeen  and  the  rest  of  the  crew  made-up  of  lovely 
boys  much  younger  and  fit  only  for  such  a  sea  as  this.  But 
should  storms  deform  the  face  of  this  fair  mirror,  I  fear  the 
winds  would  pay  little  regard  to  youth  and  beauty,  where 
strength  and  activity  were  missing.  But  we  must  hope  [for] 
the  best  and  in  the  meantime,  the  regularity  of  the  whole 
renders  our  situation  very  agreeable. 

The  Cap1  gave  us  up  the  cabin  and  state  room,  which  are 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          135 

both  very  neat,  and  furnished  with  every  necessary.  In  the 
State  room  we  found  a  number  of  books.  They  consisted 
chiefly  of  Novels  and  poetry.  By  this  you  will  guess  the  com- 
mander is  not  much  in  years  more  than  his  ship's  crew,  two 
or  three  and  twenty  I  suppose,  and  the  mate  still  younger. 
The  Cap1  is  handsome  and  genteel  beyond  what  is  generally  ' 
found  in  those  of  his  profession.  He  has  an  air  of  melancholy  y 
that  interests  one  for  him ;  he  is  often  absent  and  sighs  inces- 
santly. The  mate  told  us  in  confidence  that  the  Captain  had 
got  himself  so  much  in  love  that  he  was  become  good  for 
nothing.  The  Lady  is  a  fair  American,  and  he  is  now  on  his 
way  to  see  and  he  hopes  marry  her.  For  my  own  part,  con- 
tinued the  mate,  shruging  significantly — but  every  man  to 
his  mind,  all's  one  to  me;  to  be  sure  I  wish  him  well;  but  a 
man's  girl,  do  ye  see,  is  not  to  be  spoke  of.  No,  no,  none  of 
your  bundlers  a'  faith  for  me,  a  good  Scotch  lassie  for  my 
money.  From  these  hints  I  fear  poor  [Captain]  Setter  has 
not  made  a  very  discreet  choice,  but  as  the  mate  says,  every 
man  to  his  mind. 

As  we  have  no  Abigail,  a  fine  boy  about  twelve  years  old 
is  appointed  to  the  office  of  our  chamber-maid.  He  is  neat, 
handy  and  obliging.  We  make  much  of  the  little  fellow,  and 
he  is  quite  happy.  He  has  a  fine  voice  and  often  entertains  us 
with  it.  In  a  few  hours  after  we  left  S'  Kitts,  we  landed  on 
S*  Eustatia, J  a  free  port,  which  belongs  to  the  Dutch ;  a  place 
of  vast  traffick  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe.*  The  ships 
of  various  nations  which  rode  before  it  were  very  fine,  but 

$  The  Governor  to  whom  we  had  letters  died  the  day  we  arrived. 

*  St.  Eustatius  is  a  small  rocky  island,  which  Henry  Laurens  once  called 
"that  small  speck  in  the  ocean,"  lying  but  eight  miles  northwest  of  St.  Chris- 
topher, in  area  somewhat  less  than  seven  square  miles.  It  was  at  this  time 
an  open  port,  free  to  the  commerce  of  all  nations,  and  hence  a  flourishing 
centre  of  trade,  legitimate  and  illegitimate.  The  governor  who  passed  away 
on  the  day  the  party  arrived  was  Jan  de  Windt,  1753-1775,  who  died  on 
January  19  (Nouvelles  Extraordinaires  de  Divers  Endroits,  commonly 
called  Gazette  de  Leyde,  1775,  no.  126,  March  31,  1775,  p.  4).  "On  a  appris 
aussi  par  les  Lettres  de  St.  Eustache  en  date  du  20  Janvier,  que  Mr.  Jan  de 


136     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  Island  itself  the  only  ugly  one  I  have  seen.  Nor  do  I  think 
that  I  would  stay  on  it  for  any  bribe.  It  is  however  an  in- 
stance of  Dutch  industry  little  inferior  to  their  dykes ;  as  the 
one  half  of  the  town  is  gained  off  the  Sea,  which  is  fenced 
out  by  Barracadoes,  and  the  other  dug  out  of  an  immense 
mountain  of  sand  and  rock;  which  rises  to  a  great  height  be- 
hind the  houses,  and  will  one  day  bury  them  under  it.  On 
the  top  of  this  hill  I  saw  some  decent-looking  houses,  but  was 
not  able  to  mount  it,  to  look  at  them  nearer.  I  understand 
however  that  the  whole  riches  of  the  Island  consist  in  its 
merchandize,  and  that  they  are  obliged  to  the  neighbouring 
Islands  for  subsistence;  while  they  in  return  furnish  them 
with  contraband  commodities  of  all  kinds.  The  town  con- 
sists of  one  street  a  mile  long,  but  very  narrow  and  most 
disagreeable,  as  every  one  smokes  tobacco,  and  the  whiffs  are 
constantly  blown  in  your  face. 

But  never  did  I  meet  with  such  variety;  here  was  a  merch* 
vending  his  goods  in  Dutch,  another  in  French,  a  third  in 
Spanish,  etc.  etc.  They  all  wear  the  habit  of  their  country, 
and  the  diversity  is  really  amusing.  The  first  that  welcomed 
us  ashore  were  a  set  of  Jews.  As  I  had  never  seen  a  Jew  in  his 
habit,  except  Mr  Diggs  in  the  character  of  Shylock,*  I  could 
not  look  on  the  wretches  without  shuddering.  But  I  was 
shown  two  objects  that  set  Christian  cruelty  in  a  worse  light, 
than  I  could  have  believed  it  possible.  The  one,  a  wretch 
discovered  to  be  innocent  of  a  crime  laid  to  his  charge. 
While  he  was  stretched  on  the  wheel  and  under  the  hands  of 
the  executioner,  he  was  taken  down  with  hardly  a  joint  in 

Windt,  Commandant  de  cette  Isle  et  des  Isles  adjacentes  de  Saba  et  St. 
Martin,  y  etoit  mort  la  veille."  We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  J.  Franklin  Jameson 
for  this  extract. 

*  West  Digges,  the  actor,  1720-1786,  paid  frequent  visits  to  Edinburgh, 
acting  there  as  early  as  1756,  and  Miss  Schaw  might  well  have  seen  him  at 
any  time  after  that  date.  She  is  probably  referring  to  the  same  person  on 
page  94,  where  she  speaks  of  "Digges  worshipping  in  the  Temple  of  the  Sun." 
There  is  a  brief  account  of  his  career  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biog- 
raphy. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          137 

its  place,  yet  the  miserable  life  still  remained.  He  was  ban- 
ished France,  as  the  sight  of  him  was  a  reproach.  He  has  both 
his  hands  and  one  of  his  feet  fallen  off  since  he  came  to  S* 
Eustatia,  where  he  is  treated  with  much  humanity  and  pity. 
The  other  is  a  man  who  was  eighteen  months  in  the  Spanish 
inquisition,  and  was  tortured  till  he  has  hardly  the  sem- 
blance of  a  human  creature  remaining.  The  infernal  accuser 
at  last  appeared  and  declared  he  had  mistaken  him,  for  he 
was  not  the  person  they  meant,  and  brought  the  other  to 
them.  As  he  seemed  quite  out  of  his  senses,  they  did  not 
chuse  to  murder  him,  but  turned  him  out  in  the  dead  of  night 
to  the  street,  where  he  was  found  by  some  Dutch  sailors,  who 
being  convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  story,  and  certain  that  he 
would  either  be  remanded  back  to  his  dreadful  prison  or 
immediately  murdered,  had  the  humanity  to  carry  him 
aboard  their  ship,  where  their  care  restored  his  senses  and 
memory,  and  they  brought  him  here,  where  he  remains.  I 
was  assured  of  the  truth  of  both  these  stories  by  many  of  the 
most  respectable  people  of  the  town,  by  whose  charity  they 
are  supported. 

From  one  end  of  the  town  of  Eustatia  to  the  other  is  a 
continued  mart,  where  goods  of  the  most  different  uses  and 
qualities  are  displayed  before  the  shop-doors.  Here  hang 
rich  embroideries,  painted  silks,  flowered  Muslins,  with  all 
the  Manufactures  of  the  Indies.  Just  by  hang  Sailor's 
Jackets,  trousers,  shoes,  hats  etc.  Next  stall  contains  most 
exquisite  silver  plate,  the  most  beautiful  indeed  I  ever  saw, 
and  close  by  these  iron-pots,  kettles  and  shovels.  Perhaps 
the  next  presents  you  with  French  and  English  Millinary- 
wares.  But  it  were  endless  to  enumerate  the  variety  of  mer- 
chandize in  such  a  place,  for  in  every  store  you  find  every 
thing,  be  their  qualities  ever  so  opposite.  I  bought  a  quantity 
of  excellent  French  gloves  for  fourteen  pence  a  pair,  also 
English  thread-stockings  cheaper  than  I  could  buy  them  at 
home.  I  was  indeed  surprised  to  find  that  the  case  with  most 


138     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

of  the  British  manufactures,  but  am  told  the  merchts  who 
export  them  have  a  large  drawback. 

We  were  treated  with  great  hospitality  at  this  place,  but 
they  have  nothing  of  the  gentility  of  the  neighbouring  Is- 
lands. I  slept  or  rather  lay  two  nights  under  the  hill,  which 
seemed  to  threaten  me  every  moment  from  its  Neighbour- 
hood, and  the  Musquatoes  [mosquitos]  too  are  very  hearty 
and  strong,  so  that  we  had  enough  of  amusement  to  keep  us 
from  sleep,  and  were  not  a  little  pleased  to  get  aboard  the 
Rebecca  again.  We  purchased  excellent  claret  for  less  than 
two  shillings  a  bottle,  and  Portuguese  wines  of  different 
kinds  very  cheap.  Rob1  too,  who  never  forgets  the  table, 
made  several  purchases  of  pickles  and  sweet  meats  extremely 
fine  and  very  cheap.  I  assure  you  that  by  his  care  and  the 
alertness  of  a  cook  that  has  not  yet  reached  fourteen  years 
old,  we  live  very  much  at  our  ease  upon  four  or  five  good 
things  and  well  dressed  every  day,  besides  a  desert  of  fruits. 
The  Captain  does  every  thing  to  oblige  us  and  render  his 
vessel  agreeable  to  his  passengers,  and  tho'  the  sea  is  quite 
calm,  he  makes  the  ship  lie  to  while  we  are  at  meals,  so  that 
we  eat  without  the  least  inconvenience  from  the  motion  of 
the  ship ;  a  very  agreeable  circumstance  I  do  assure  you.  But 
these  are  considerations,  that  you  people  who  live  at  home 
in  ease  never  can  properly  understand. 

As  we  had  not  been  suffered  to  provide  or  put  on  board 
any  thing  for  ourselves,  I  was  curious  to  know  what  our  Sea 
Store  consisted  of,  and  begged  the  Cap1  to  let  me  look  thro' 
the  Ship,  as  I  had  no  opportunity  of  doing  so  on  my  former 
Voyage.  This  was  immediately  agreed  to,  and  both  Miss 
Rutherfurd  and  I  were  surprised  at  the  neatness  of  every 
thing  we  saw.  But  what  pleased  us  above  all  the  others  was 
the  care  that  was  taken  to  secure  the  live-stock  in  such  a  way 
as  to  keep  them  safe  even  in  the  worst  weather,  the  want  of 
which  we  had  severely  suffered  for  in  the  Jamaica  Packet. 
This  is  a  place  paled  in  between  decks  in  which  were  geese, 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          139 

pigs,  Turkeys,  and  sheep.  The  water  too  was  placed  as  cool 
as  possible,  and  that  to  be  used  in  the  cabin  was  prepared 
by  a  filtering  stone,  such  as  I  formerly  described  in  the 
Islands.  You  will  think  me  very  attentive  to  such  circum- 
stances; but  nothing  is  of  more  consequence  at  Sea  both  to 
pleasure  and  to  health. 

We  had  a  sheep  killed  yesterday,  and  have  had  a  Scotch 
dinner  under  the  Tropick  in  the  middle  of  the  A  tl  an  tick.  We 
eat  haggis,  sheep-head,  barley-broth  and  blood  puddings.  As 
both  our  Cap1  and  Mate  are  Scots,  tho'  long  from  home,  they 
swore  they  had  not  seen  such  an  excellent  dinner  since  they 
left  their  native  land.  We  have  never  yet  had  a  breeze  suffi- 
cient to  curl  the  Sea,  and  I  really  wonder  how  we  move 
along.  Our  sails  hang  like  a  Lady's  loose  gown  in  the  most 
languishing  manner,  and  our  poor  Cap1  sighs  ready  to  break 
his  heart  at  the  slow  advance  he  makes  to  the  port  that  con- 
tains his  wishes.  However  he  tried  to  amuse  himself.  He  and 
my  brother  are  just  now  gone  in  the  boat  a  shooting.  I  see 
them  from  where  I  am  writing,  it  is  really  pretty  to  see  the 
little  vessel  moving  on  the  smooth  surface  of  that  vast  ocean, 
a  perfect  world  of  water.  They  are  just  returned  and  have 
been  very  successful;  but  the  greatest  entertainment  they 
have  had,  was  painting  the  Ship  on  the  outside.  Our  mate 
who  is  really  a  man  of  taste,  hath  ornamented  her  with  many 
festoons  of  flowers  and  various  figures  very  neatly.  But  only 
think  of  the  softness  of  our  sailing,  when  he  can  row  round 
her  for  hours  and  hold  the  pots  of  paint  in  one  hand,  while 
he  uses  the  brush  with  the  other. 

Our  life  is  so  uniformly  calm,  and  placid,  that  we  are  glad 
to  meet  any  thing,  that  has  the  air  of  an  Adventure  to  vary 
the  Scene,  and  which  yesterday  afforded  Jack  Rutherfurd, 
(who  is  continually  on  the  look  out,  and  to  say  the  truth,  has 
more  observations  than  we  have  all,)  the  sight  of  somewhat 
floating  on  the  water,  but  at  such  a  distance  that  he  could 
only  see  it  was  very  long,  and  from  that  concluded  it  might 


140     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

be  a  boat  belonging  to  some  Vessel.  All  the  glasses  were 
presently  out,  and  as  every  body  observed  it,  various  con- 
jectures were  formed.  In  a  moment  it  was  a  wreck,  it  was  a 
whale,  it  was  an  island.  For  my  part  I  liked  the  wreck  best, 
as  it  was  likely  to  afford  most  entertainment.  The  Captain 
however  ended  all  disputes  by  sending  off  the  boat,  which 
soon  returned  loaded  with  fishes,  and  brought  us  certain 
advice  that  it  was  a  tree  of  immense  size,  blown  off  the 
American  coast,  and  which  had  lain  on  the  water,  till  covered 
over  with  barnacles,  and  round  which  fishes  of  all  kinds 
crouded,  so  that  they  had  only  to  put  over  their  hands  and 
bring  them  into  the  boat.  All  hands  were  now  pressing  to  go. 
The  Cap1,  my  brother  and  the  Rutherfurds  got  presently  into 
the  boat,  and  the  Captain  ordered  the  ship  to  bear  down  to 
it,  that  we  might  share  in  the  sport.  The  expedition  had 
almost  proved  a  fatal  one  however,  for  two  of  our  youthful 
sailors  landing  on  Log-island,  as  they  named  it,  tumbled 
over,  and  were  very  near  becoming  the  prey  of  a  Shark, 
which  lurked  hard  by  it.  They  were  fortunately  saved,  and 
no  more  attempts  were  made  to  land.  They  brought  on  board 
a  surprising  quantity  of  fish,  but  all  flat,  of  the  turbot  and 
flounder  kind,  and  some,  I  am  sure,  are  the  same  with  our 
Soles.  We  have  many  alive  in  tubs  filled  with  Sea  water;  a 
great  number  are  salted,  and  hung  amongst  the  shrouds  by 
the  lads  for  their  own  use.  We  had  at  first  some  little  objec- 
tion to  eating  them,  as  the  fishes  of  these  seas  are  at  a  certain 
season  unwholesome,  and  some  are  even  poison;  but  this  is 
owing  to  their  being  near  Copper  Islands,  which  is  not  the 
present  case.  A  dollar  was  put  in  the  kettle  with  them;  it 
came  out  pure,  and  all  was  safe,  and  our  young  cook  and 
Rob1  dress  them  nicely,  and  they  are  truly  good. 

Last  night  the  air  changed,  and  tho'  the  wind  did  not  in 
the  least  increase,  yet  it  became  very  chilly  on  deck,  and  this 
morning  is  so  cold,  that  we  are  not  able  to  leave  the  Cabin. 
I  plainly  find  we  are  out  of  the  warm  climates,  and  fast 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          141 

approaching  the  coast  of  America.  I  am  sick  at  heart,  my 
spirits  fail  me,  but  I  will  not  give  way  to  resentment.  We 
are  now  actually  on  the  American  coast,  and  it  is  so  cold  that 
I  am  not  able  to  go  on  deck,  tho'  the  Cap1  invites  me  to  view 
the  woods,  as  he  assures  me,  they  are  in  sight.  I  can  hardly 
hold  the  pen,  I  left  June  and  found  December. 

At  last  America  is  in  my  view;  a  dreary  Waste  of  white 
barren  sand,  and  melancholy,  nodding  pines.  In  the  course 
of  many  miles,  no  cheerful  cottage  has  blest  my  eyes.  All 
seems  dreary,  savage  and  desert;  and  was  it  for  this  that  such 
sums  of  money,  such  streams  of  British  blood  have  been 
lavished  away?  Oh,  thou  dear  land,  how  dearly  hast  thou 
purchased  this  habitation  for  bears  and  wolves.  Dearly  has 
it  been  purchased,  and  at  a  price  far  dearer  still  will  it  be 
kept.  My  heart  dies  within  me,  while  I  view  it,  and  I  am 
glad  of  an  interruption  by  the  arrival  of  a  pilot-boat,  the 
master  of  which  appears  a  worthy  inhabitant  of  the  woods 
before  us.  "Pray,  Sir,"  said  I  to  him,  "does  any  body  live 
hereabouts*?"  "Hereabouts,"  returned  he  in  a  surly  tone, 
"don't  you  see  how  thick  it  is  settled."  He  then  pointed  with 
his  finger  to  a  vast  distance,  and  after  some  time,  I  really  did 
observe  a  spot  that  seemed  to  be  cut  amongst  the  woods,  and 
fancied  that  I  saw  something  that  resembled  smoke.  On  this 
acknowledgment,  he  answered  with  a  sort  of  triumph,  "Ay, 
ay,  I  told  you  so,  that  there  is  Snow's  plantation,  and  look 
ye  there;  don't  you  see  another?  Why  sure  you  are  blind,  it 
is  not  above  five  miles  off."  I  confessed  I  was  short-sighted 
at  least,  for  I  really  did  not  see  it,  and  as  he  was  now  attend- 
ing the  casting  the  lead  and  reckoning  our  soundings,  I 
troubled  him  with  no  more  questions,  but  retired  to  the 
Cabin,  not  much  elated  with  what  I  had  seen.* 

*  Miss  Schaw  and  her  party  had  now  entered  the  Cape  Fear  River  and 
were  approaching  the  town  of  Brunswick,  after  a  voyage  of  twenty-four 
days.  When  the  captain  pointed  out  Snow's  plantation,  they  must  have  been 
in  the  river  channel,  nearly  opposite  Fort  Johnston,  for  the  plantation  lay 
about  half  way  between  Brunswick  and  the  fort,  on  the  northern  side  of 


142     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  are  now  opposite  to  the  fort*  which  guards  this  coast, 
and  the  Cap1  has  gone  to  it  to  show  his  credentials  and  pay 
certain  fees  which  constitute  the  salary  of  an  officer,  who  is 
called  Governor.f  In  figure  and  size  this  fort  resembles  a 
Leith  timber-bush,  but  does  not  appear  quite  so  tremendous, 
tho'  I  see  guns  peeping  thro'  the  sticks.  If  these  are  our 
fortresses  and  castles,  no  wonder  the  Natives  rebel ;  for  I  will 
be  bound  to  take  this  fort  with  a  regim1  of  black-guard  Edin- 
burgh boys  without  any  artillery,  but  their  own  pop-guns. 
I  now  write  on  shore,  but  will  finish  my  journal  of  the  Re- 
becca, before  I  say  any  thing  of  my  present  situation  here. 

I  told  you  the  Cap1  had  gone  to  the  fort,  but  forgot  to  tell 
you  there  is  an  old  sloop  of  war  that  lies  here,f  which,  like 

Snow's  Creek,  Sturgeon's  Point,  the  terminus  of  the  road  running  north  on 
that  side  of  the  river.  It  is  shown  on  Jeffrey's  map  in  The  American  Atlas 
and  on  Collet's  map  printed  in  1770.  Its  owner  is  referred  to  in  the  follow- 
ing entry  from  the  Brunswick  records  of  date  1766.  "As  Robert  Snow  and  his 
now  wife  find  it  impossible  to  live  together  with  that  harmony  which  the 
married  state  requires  and  have  therefore  for  their  mutual  ease  agreed  to 
relax  as  far  as  they  can  that  obligation  which  they  cannot  totally  dissolve," 
they  enter  into  a  formal  indenture  as  to  the  division  of  the  property  (Bruns- 
wick County  Records,  Book  A,  Wills,  Conveyances,  and  Inventories,  pp.  67, 
69).  Snow  was  a  church  warden  of  St.  Philip's;  hence  a  separation  rather 
than  a  divorce. 

*  The  fort,  of  which  Miss  Schaw  speaks  with  so  little  respect,  was  Fort 
Johnston,  eleven  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river.  It  was  built  of  "tapia," 
consisting  of  equal  parts  of  lime,  raw  oyster  shells,  sand,  and  water,  forming 
a  paste  or  "batter,"  as  the  negroes  called  it,  which  was  poured  into  boxes, 
much  as  liquid  concrete  or  cement  is  poured  today.  The  fort  was  constructed 
in  1740  and  rebuilt  in  1764,  with  a  wall  of  tapia  and  a  lower  battery  and 
fosse  (North  Carolina  Records,  VI,  1028,  1099,  1183).  Governor  Tryon,  in 
commenting  on  its  condition  in  1766,  said:  "The  proportions  observed  in  the 
construction  are  as  miserable  as  are  the  materials  with  which  it  is  built. 
There  is  so  great  a  proportion  of  sand  that  every  gun  fired  brings  down  some 
of  the  parapet.  I  think  the  fort  a  disgrace  to  the  ordnance  his  Majesty  has 
placed  in  it"  (ib.,  VII,  246).  Compare  Dobbs's  statements,  1754  (ib.,  V,  158), 
1756  (ib.,  V,  595),  1761  ("Answers  to  Queries,"  ib.,  VI,  614-615). 

fThe  reference  here  is  not  to  the  governor  of  the  province  but  to  the 
governor  of  the  fort,  at  this  time  Captain  John  Collet.  Captain  Seater  on 
passing  the  fort  would  have  to  pay  five  shillings,  a  perquisite  that  went  to 
the  officer  in  command,  "for  giving  the  masters  of  vessels  their  product  bill" 
(North  Carolina  Records,  VII,  249). 

t  The  Cruizer. 


1-Y.nr 


The  Lower  Cape  Fear:  1770. 

From  John  Collet's  manuscript  map  of  North  Carolina 
in  the  British  Museum. 


ANTIGUA  AND  ST.  CHRISTOPHER          143 

the  log  before  commemorated,  has  lain  till  all  covered  over 
with  barnacles.  From  this  vessel  an  officer  came  alongst  with 
our  Captain  to  view  our  men.*  But  as  we  had  in  fact  but 
one  man,jf  we  had  hid  him  with  great  care  under  the  bed  of 
our  state-room,  and  stuffed  round  him  all  the  dirty  linens 
which  were  not  few,  so  that  the  situation  of  Sir  John  Falstaff 
in  his  buck-basket  was  airy,  when  compared  to  that  of  this 
poor  Sailor,  and  which  was  rendered  unsupportable  by  the 
politeness  of  the  officer,  who  absolutely  refused  to  enter  our 
apartment,  but  sat  down  in  the  cabin  with  us,  and  seemed 
so  much  pleased  with  his  company  that  he  showed  not  the 
least  design  to  leave  us.  He  had  drank  enough  to  render  him 
very  loquacious,  and  we  not  only  had  the  history  of  Carolina, 
but  of  himself,  and  the  very  officers  aboard  the  sloop,  on 
which  he  dwelt  so  long,  that  I  made  not  the  least  doubt,  but 
the  poor  devil  under  the  bed  would  be  smothered,  and  was 
ready  to  die  myself  with  apprehension.  At  last  we  found  the 
only  way  to  get  quit  of  him  was  to  go  with  him,  leaving 
Robertf  to  deliver  the  poor  prisoner,  who,  I  dare  Swear,  will 
not  soon  wish  for  the  honour  of  being  hid  in  a  Lady's  bed- 
chamber. Adieu,  yours  by  sea  and  land. 

#  He  had  deserted  from  the  Sloop. 

*  Evidently  the  lieutenant  from  the  Cruizer  was  on  the  hunt  for  deserters 
or  else  was  engaged  in  impressing  men  for  the  royal  navy. 

t  This  is  the  last  mention  of  Alexander's  Indian  servant,  Robert.  Where 
he  was  from  this  time  until  Alexander  sailed  for  England  in  July  we  do  not 
know.  Probably  he  returned  to  England  with  his  master. 


CHAPTER    III. 

Residence  in  North  Carolina. 


Brunswick.* 


E  got  safe  on  shore,  f  and  tho'  quite  dark  landed  from 
the  boat  with  little  trouble,  and  proceeded  thro'  rows  of  tar 
and  pitch  to  the  house  of  a  merch1,  to  whom  we  had  been 
recommended.^  He  received  us  in  a  hall,  which  tho'  not  very 
orderly,  had  a  cheerful  look,  to  which  a  large  carron  stove  || 

*  Except  for  the  ruins  of  St.  Philip's  Church  and  a  few  disinterred  frag- 
ments, the  town  of  Brunswick  has  today  entirely  disappeared  and  the  site  is 
included  within  the  boundaries  of  Orton  plantation.  See  Appendix  IV. 

f  In  Appendix  V  is  printed  Alexander  Schaw's  description  of  North 
Carolina,  written  in  London  and  dated  the  October  after  his  arrival  in  1775. 
It  supplements  his  sister's  account  written  in  quite  a  different  vein. 

J  One  of  the  most  agreeable  incidents  connected  with  the  editing  of  Miss 
Schaw's  journal  has  been  the  discovery  of  the  exact  entries  of  the  arrival  of 
the  Jamaica  Packet  and  the  Rebecca,  in  an  old  Brunswick  customs  book  of 
entrances  and  clearances  kept  by  William  Dry,  the  collector.  This  book,  con- 
taining the  entrances  from  1773  to  July,  1775,  and  the  clearances  from  1763 
to  1775,  was  discovered  by  Mr.  James  Sprunt  of  Wilmington,  "in  the  ruins 
of  a  house,  said  to  have  been  the  residence  of  Nathaniel  Rice,"  and  is  now  in 
his  possession.  We  are  greatly  indebted  to  Mr.  Sprunt  for  the  privilege  of 
examining  this  sadly  mutilated  but  invaluable  manuscript.  The  entries  are 
as  follows: 

"January  31,  1775,  Jamaica  Packet,  Thomas  Smith  Captain,  Brig,  80  tons, 
no  guns,  8  men,  built  in  Mass.  1772,  registered  Kirkaldy,  22  Oct.  1774,  George 
Parker  owner,  ballast  from  Antigua,  [signed]  Tho8  Smith." 

"February  14,  1775,  Rebecca,  Hugh  Seater,  Brig,  50  tons,  no  guns,  6  men, 
built  in  Mass.  1764,  registered  Basseterre,  29  Dec.  1774,  Richard  Quince 
owner,  ballast,  from  St.  Kitts."  This  entry  is  not  signed,  but  one  later,  of 
July  2,  1775,  when  the  Rebecca  returned  from  another  voyage  to  St.  Kitts, 
bringing  sugar  and  rum,  is  signed  "Hugh  Seater." 

||  A  Carron  stove  was  one  made  at  the  Carron  Iron  Works  on  the  Carron 
River  in  Stirlingshire,  Scotland.  The  works  were  started  in  1760  and  are 


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RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          145 

filled  with  Scotch  coals  not  a  little  contributed.  The  night 
was  bitterly  cold,  and  we  gathered  round  the  hearth  with 
great  satisfaction,  and  the  Master  of  the  house  gave  us  a 
hospitable  welcome.  This  place  is  called  Brunswick,  and 
tho'  the  best  sea  port  in  the  province,  the  town  is  very  poor — 
a  few  scattered  houses  on  the  edge  of  the  woods,  without 
street  or  regularity.  These  are  inhabited  by  merchants,  of 
whom  Mr  Quense  [Quince]*  our  host  is  the  first  in  conse- 
quence. He  is  deeply  engaged  in  the  new  system  of  politicks, 
in  which  they  are  all  more  or  less,  tho'  Mr  Dry,f  the  collector 
of  the  customs,  is  the  most  zealous  and  talks  treason  by  the 
hour.  The  arrival  to  day  of  my  brother  Bobf  and  Mr  Mur- 
ray ||  of  Philiphaugh  gives  us  great  pleasure.  Bob  is  really  a 
handsome  fellow.  I  did  not  know  how  much  I  was  compli- 
mented, when  told  I  was  like  him.  Mr  Rutherfurd  is  some 
hundred  miles  up  the  country,  so  it  will  be  several  weeks 
before  he  hears  his  children  are  arrived,  which  is  no  small 
disappointment  to  them. 

We  have  found  our  Captain  with  his  Vessel  here  before  us. 
Mrs  Miller  is  up  at  my  brothers.  It  turns  out  that  the  Cap* 
left  S*  Kitts  in  a  drunken  fit,  in  which  he  fancied  he  was 
affronted  by  the  Cap*  of  the  king's  yacht.  As  to  Mary,  I  will 
take  her  innocence  for  granted,  for  fear  it  turn  out  otherwise ; 
in  which  case  I  would  be  much  at  a  loss,  for  what  can  I  do 
with  a  poor  creature  in  this  strange  land,  I  must  and  will 
take  care  of  her,  tho'  God  knows  her  conduct  does  not  en- 
described  by  the  traveller  Pennant,  who  visited  them  in  1769,  as  "the  greatest 
of  their  kind  in  Europe,"  employing  1200  men  (Hume  Brown,  Surveys  of 
Scottish  History,  p.  113).  The  name  "Carronade"  for  a  piece  of  ordnance 
comes  from  the  same  source. 

*  Richard  Quince  would  naturally  be  Miss  Schaw's  first  host,  as  he  was 
the  owner  of  the  Rebecca,  the  vessel  upon  which  she  had  just  arrived.  For 
his  biography,  see  Appendix  XI. 

f  For  William  Dry,  see  Appendix  XI. 

J  For  Miss  Schaw's  brother  Robert,  see  page  21,  note,  and  for  additional 
details,  Appendix  XII. 

||  For  the  career  of  James  Murray,  see  Appendix  VIII. 


146     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

courage  me.  The  Captain  knows  his  fate  is  in  my  brothers 
hand,  who,  I  make  no  doubt,  will  forgive  him,  and  meet  with 
as  ungrateful  a  return  as  possible. 

Schawfield  March  22d  1775. 

We  have  been  these  three  or  four  days  here,  but  this  is  the 
first  time  it  has  been  in  my  power  to  write,  but  I  have  now 
sat  down  to  bring  up  my  Journal  from  leaving  Brunswick  ;* 
which  we  did  last  Friday,  under  the  care  of  a  Mr  Eagle,  f  a 
young  Gentleman  just  returned  from  England  and  who 
owns  a  very  considerable  estate  in  this  province.  The  two 
brothers  were  to  follow  and  be  up  with  us  in  a  few  miles, 
which  however  they  did  not.  We  were  in  a  Phaeton  and  four 
belonging  to  my  brother,  and  as  the  roads  are  entirely  level, 
drove  on  at  good  speed,  our  guide  keeping  by  us  and  several 
Negro  servants  attending  on  horse  back.  During  the  first  few 
miles,  I  was  charmed  with  the  woods.  The  wild  fruit  trees 
are  in  full  blossom;  the  ground  under  them  covered  with 
verdure  and  intermixed  with  flowers  of  various  kinds  made 
a  pleasing  Scene.  But  by  and  by  it  begins  to  grow  dark,  and 
as  the  idea  of  being  benighted  in  the  wilds  of  America  was 
not  a  pleasing  circumstance  to  an  European  female,  I  begged 
the  servant  to  drive  faster,  but  was  told  it  would  make  little 
difference,  as  we  must  be  many  hours  dark,  before  we  could 
get  clear  of  the  woods,  nor  were  our  fears  decreased  by  the 
stories  Mr  Eagle  told  us  of  the  wolves  and 'bears  that  in- 
habited that  part  of  the  country. 

Terrified  at  last  almost  to  Agony,  we  begged  to  be  carried 

*  Miss  Schaw,  according  to  the  chronology  of  the  narrative,  remained  at 
Brunswick  from  February  14  to  March  17,  and  it  is  therefore  strange  that  she 
should  have  given  us  no  account  of  her  life  there.  Possibly  portions  of  the 
narrative  have  been  lost.  All  we  know  of  the  month's  experience  is  that 
during  that  time  Miss  Schaw  was  without  a  "dish  of  tea,"  a  fact  that  may 
have  political  significance  in  view  of  the  anti-British  attitude  of  the  provin- 
cial group  which  lived  at  Brunswick. 

t  For  Joseph  Eagles,  see  Appendix  XI. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          147 

to  some  house  to  wait  for  day-light,  but  we  had  drove  at 
least  two  miles  in  that  situation  before  Mr  Eagle  recollected 
that  a  poor  man  had  a  very  poor  plantation  at  no  great  dis- 
tance, if  we  could  put  up  with  it  and  venture  to  go  off  the 
road  amongst  the  trees.  This  was  not  an  agreeable  proposi- 
tion ;  however  it  was  agreed  to,  and  we  soon  found  ourselves 
lost  in  the  most  impenetrable  darkness,  from  which  we  could 
neither  see  sky,  nor  distinguish  a  single  object.  We  had  not 
gone  far  in  this  frightful  state,  when  we  found  the  carriage 
stopt  by  trees  fallen  across  the  road,  and  were  forced  to  dis- 
mount and  proceed  thro'  this  dreary  scene  on  foot.  All  I  had 
ever  heard  of  lions,  bears,  tigers  and  wolves  now  rushed  on 
my  memory,  and  I  secretly  wished  I  had  been  made  a  feast 
to  the  fishes  rather  than  to  those  monsters  of  the  woods.  With 
these  thoughts  in  my  head,  I  happened  to  slip  my  foot,  and 
down  I  went  and  made  no  doubt  I  was  sinking  into  the  centre 
of  the  earth.  It  was  not  quite  so  deep  however,  for  with  little 
trouble  Mr  Eagle  got  me  safe  up,  and  in  a  few  minutes  we 
came  to  an  opening  that  showed  us  the  sky  and  stars,  which 
was  a  happy  sight  in  our  circumstances. 

The  carriage  soon  came  up,  and  we  again  got  into  it.  I  now 
observed  that  the  road  was  inclosed  on  both  sides,  and  on 
the  first  turning  the  carriage  made,  we  found  ourselves  in 
front  of  a  large  house  from  the  windows  of  which  beamed 
many  cheerful  tapers,  and  no  sooner  were  we  come  up  to  the 
gate  than  a  number  of  black  servants  came  out  with  lights. 
Mr  Eagle  dismounted,  and  was  ready  to  assist  us,  and  now 
welcomed  us  to  his  house  and  owned  that  the  whole  was  a 
plan  only  to  get  us  to  it,  as  he  feared  we  might  have  made 
some  objections;  he  having  no  Lady  to  receive  us.  I  had 
a  great  mind  to  have  been  angry,  but  was  too  happy  to  find 
myself  safe,  and  every  thing  comfortable.  We  found  the 
Tea-table  set  forth,  and  for  the  first  time  since  our  arrival  in 
America  had  a  dish  of  Tea.  We  passed  the  evening  very 
agreeably,  and  by  breakfast  next  morning,  the  two  brothers 


148     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

joined  us.  Mr  Eagle  was  my  brother  Bob's  ward,  and  is  a 
most  amiable  young  man.  We  stayed  all  the  forenoon  with 
him,  saw  his  rice  mills,  his  indigo  works  and  timber  mills. 
The  vast  command  they  have  of  water  makes  those  works 
easily  conducted.  Before  I  leave  the  country,  I  will  get 
myself  instructed  in  the  nature  of  them,  as  well  as  the 
method  of  making  the  tar  and  turpentine,  but  at  present  I 
know  not  enough  of  them  to  attempt  a  description. 

We  got  to  Schawfield*  to  dinner,  which  is  indeed  a  fine 
plantation,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  will  turn  out 
such  an  estate,  as  will  enable  its  master  to  visit  his  native 
land,  if  his  wife  who  is  an  American  will  permit  him,  which 
I  doubt.  This  plantation  is  prettily  situated  on  the  northwest 
branch  of  the  river  Cape  Fear.  Every  thing  is  on  a  large 
Scale,  and  these  two  great  branches  of  water  come  down 
northeast  and  northwest,  and  join  at  Wilmingtown.  They 
are  not  less  in  breadth  than  the  Tay  at  Newbrugh,  and 
navigable  up  a  vast  way  for  ships  of  pretty  large  burthen. 

Mr  Eagle,  who  is  still  here,  appears  every  day  more 
worthy  of  esteem.  He  is  not  yet  Major,  yet  has  more  knowl- 

*  "Schawfield"  or  "Sauchie,"  as  it  was  sometimes  called  by  its  owner, 
Robert  Schaw,  Miss  Schaw's  elder  brother,  was  situated  on  the  southwestern 
side  of  the  Northwest  branch,  but  a  few  miles  above  Wilmington.  The 
northern  part  of  the  plantation  was  bought  of  James  Moore  and  Ann  his 
wife  in  1772  and  covered  an  area  of  500  acres.  The  following  is  a  description 
of  that  part  of  the  property :  "Beginning  at  the  mouth  of  Indian  Creek  run- 
ning up  the  river  to  the  lower  line  of  a  tract  or  parcel  of  land,  containing  500 
acres,  conveyed  by  deed  to  George  Moore,  Sr.  by  Maurice  Moore,  Jr.  by 
Maurice  Moore  dec'd,  thence  west  400  poles  thence  south  80  poles  to  Indian 
Creek  to  the  first  station."  The  plantation  also  contained  another  tract  of  400 
acres,  purchased  by  Robert  Schaw  of  Benjamin  Stone,  shipwright,  June  19, 
!773»  "beginning  at  a  stake  at  an  elbow  on  the  old  northwest  road  leading 
from  Mt.  Misery  ferry,  running  along  the  lower  side  of  said  road  south  15 
degrees  west  14  poles,  thence  along  the  said  road  88  degrees  west  120  poles, 
thence  north  65  degrees  west  to  back  or  westernmost  line  of  the  aforesaid 
lands,  thence  along  the  said  line  north  to  Indian  Creek,  then  down  the 
various  courses  of  said  creek  to  the  mouth,  then  down  the  NW  River  to  the 
first  station"  (Brunswick  County  Records,  Conveyances,  B,  300).  Thus  Indian 
Creek,  the  first  creek  above  Mt.  Misery  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
ran  through  the  middle  of  the  plantation,  which  lay  between  the  old  north- 
west road  and  the  river. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          149 

edge  than  most  men  I  have  met  with  at  any  age.  He  left  his 
country  a  child,  and  is  just  returned,  so  is  entirely  English, 
as  his  father  and  mother  were  both  of  that  part  of  our  Island 
and  his  relations  all  there.  He  very  justly  considers  England 
as  the  terrestrial  paradise  and  proposes  to  return,  as  soon  as 
he  is  of  age.  I  would  fain  hope  his  good  sense  will  prevent  his 
joining  in  schemes,  which  I  see  plainly  are  forming  here,  and 
which  I  fear  you  at  home  are  suffering  to  gain  too  much 
ground  from  mistaken  mercy  to  a  people,  who  have  a  rooted 
hatred  at  you  and  despise  your  mercy,  which  they  View  in  a 
very  different  light.  We  have  an  invitation  to  a  ball  in  Wil- 
mingtown,  and  will  go  down  to  it  some  day  soon.  This  is  the 
last  that  is  to  be  given,  as  the  congress  has  forbid  every  kind 
of  diversion,  even  card-playing.* 

This  morning  a  fine  wood  was  set  on  fire  just  by  us,  and 
tho'  I  was  informed  of  the  reason  and  necessity  of  it,  yet  I 
could  not  look  at  it  without  horror;  before  it  could  be  ex- 
tinguished twenty  thousand  trees  at  least  must  have  been 
burnt.  I  wish  you  had  them  and  the  ground  they  stand  on. 
We  had  yesterday  a  curious  tho'  a  frightful  diversion.  On  a 
visit  down  the  river,  an  Alligator  was  observed  asleep  on  the 
bank.  Mrs  Schaw  was  the  first  who  saw  it,  and  as  she  is  a 
notable  house-wife  was  fired  with  revenge  at  the  loss  of  many 
a  good  goose  they  have  stolen  from  her.  We  crept  up  as  softly 
as  possible  hardly  allowing  the  oars  to  touch  the  water,  and 
were  so  successful  as  to  land  part  of  the  Negroes  before  it 

*  According  to  clause  eight  of  the  Continental  Association,  adopted  by  the 
Continental  Congress,  October  20,  1774,  all  "expensive  diversions  and  enter- 
tainments" were  discountenanced  and  discouraged  (Journals  of  Congress,  I, 
78).  Acting  upon  this  recommendation,  the  Wilmington  Committee  of  Safety, 
on  January  28,  1775,  resolved  "that  Balls  and  Dancing  at  Public  Houses  are 
contrary  to  the  Resolves  of  the  General  Congress"  (North  Carolina  Records, 
IX,  1118),  and  on  March  i  warned  a  Mrs.  Austin  of  the  town  to  withdraw 
the  plans  made  for  a  ball  at  her  house  (ib.,  1136).  A  few  days  later  the  same 
committee  issued  a  general  warning,  declaring  as  its  opinion  "that  all  persons 
concerned  in  any  dances  for  the  future  should  be  properly  stigmatised"  (ib., 
1150).  The  ball  to  which  Miss  Schaw  refers  was  to  be  given  after  this  last 
warning,  perhaps  by  some  arrangement  with  the  Committee  of  Safety. 


150     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

waked,  which  it  did  not  do  till  all  was  ready  for  the  attack. 
Two  of  the  Negroes  armed  with  strong  oars  stood  ready, 
while  a  third  hit  him  a  violent  blow  on  the  eye,  with  which 
he  awaked  and  extended  such  a  pair  of  jaws  as  might  have 
admitted  if  not  a  Highland  cow,  at  least  a  Lowland  calf. 
The  negroes  who  are  very  dextrous  at  this  work,  presently 
pushed  the  oars  down  his  throat,  by  which  means  he  was 
secured,  [but  not]  till  he  received  thousands  of  blows  which 
did  him  no  harm,  as  he  is  covered  with  a  coat  of  Mail,  so 
strong  and  compact,  that  he  is  vulnerable  no  where  but  in 
the  eye,  and  a  very  small  opening  under  the  throat  and  belly. 
His  tail  is  long  and  flexible,  and  so  are  his  huge  arms.  With 
these  he  endeavoured  to  catch  at  his  assassins,  but  the  supe- 
rior arts  of  man  are  more  than  a  match  for  his  amazing 
strength.  Was  superior  reason  never  used  to  a  more  un- 
worthy purpose  it  were  well ;  for  he  is  a  daring  Villain,  an 
insolent  robber,  who  makes  war  on  the  whole  animal  crea- 
tion, but  does  not  man  do  the  same1?  Even  worse,  for  this 
monster  does  not  devour  his  fellow-monsters. 

But  let  me  proceed  to  his  destruction,  which  was  not  ac- 
complished with  ease,  and  had  he  had  his  full  strength,  it 
is  my  opinion,  he  would  have  baffled  all  our  arts.  But  they 
are  one  of  the  sleepers  and  retire  into  the  swamps  during  the 
winter,  from  which  this  one  had  come  earlier  than  common, 
and  not  having  had  breakfast  after  his  five  months  nap  he 
was  too  weak  to  make  the  resistance  he  would  otherwise  have 
done.  He  is  indeed  a  frightful  animal  of  which  a  lizard  is 
the  miniature,  and  if  you  can  raise  a  Lizard  in  your  imagina- 
tion fifteen  foot  in  length  with  arms  at  least  six  feet  and 
these  armed  at  the  end  with  hands  and  claws  resembling  the 
talons  of  the  eagle  and  clothe  all  with  a  flexible  coat  of  mail, 
such  as  is  worn  on  the  back  of  a  Sturgeon;  if  you  have 
strength  of  imagination  for  this,  you  have  our  Alligator, 
which  was  at  last  overcome  by  pushing  out  his  eyes  and 
thursting  a  long  knife  into  his  throat.  After  all  I  could  not 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          151 

see  this  without  horror  and  even  something  that  at  least 
resembled  compassion.  The  sight  joined  to  the  strong  smell 
of  musk  that  came  from  him  made  me  sick,  and  I  was  very 
glad  when  they  left  him  and  pushed  the  boat  from  the  shore, 
out  of  which  by  the  bye  neither  Miss  Rutherfurd  nor  I 
landed  during  the  execution  which  seemed  excellent  sport  to 
every  one  else,  even  to  my  tender-hearted  brother.* 

I  have  now  been  above  a  month  in  this  country,  and  have 
not  lost  a  day  in  endeavouring  to  find  out  something  or  an- 
other worth  your  attention,  tho'  I  am  far  from  being  certain 
of  my  success.  Yet  I  am  sure  if  you  was  on  the  spot,  you 
would  not  be  one  hour  without  something  to  engage  your 
curiosity  or  amuse  your  fancy,  which  is  the  case  with  your 
friend.  I  never  saw  so  general  and  so  extensive  a  genius  as 
he  [Joseph  Eagles]  is  possessed  of.  Trees,  plants,  flowers 
and  all  the  vegetable  world  fall  under  his  particular  obser- 
vation :  nor  is  inanimated  nature  his  only  study.  The  animal 
creation  from  the  small  reptile  up  to  what  is  here  dignified 
with  the  title  of  man  engages  his  attention,  and  if  I  am 
happy  enough  to  afford  you  any  entertainment,  you  may 
thank  him  for  it,  as  it  is  he  who  points  out  to  me  a  thousand 
objects  that  I  should  overlook.  He  makes  me  walk  with  him 
for  hours  in  the  surrounding  woods,  which  indeed  are  full  of 
subjects  to  amuse  the  mind  and  please  the  fancy  of  such  as 
have  the  least  pretensions  to  taste  or  curiosity,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  converse  with  him,  and  not  gain  a  degree  of  both. 

I  think  I  have  read  all  the  descriptions  that  have  been  pub- 
lished of  America,  yet  meet  every  moment  with  something  I 
never  read  or  heard  of.  I  must  particularly  observe  that  the 
trees  every  where  are  covered  over  with  a  black  veil  of  a 

*  There  was  an  Alligator  Creek  on  Eagles  Island,  but  apparently  Miss 
Schaw's  alligator  hunt  was  in  the  Northwest  branch  of  the  Cape  Fear.  Hugh 
Meredith,  in  his  account  of  the  Cape  Fear  section,  contributed  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette,  May  6-13,  1731,  says,  "Alligators  are  very  numerous  here,  but 
not  very  mischievous;  however,  on  their  account  swimming  is  less  practos'd 
here  than  in  the  northern  provinces." 


152     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

most  uncommon  substance,  which  I  am  however  at  a  loss  to 
describe.  It  is  more  like  sea  weed  than  any  vegetable  I  ever 
saw,  but  is  quite  black  and  is  a  continued  web  from  top  to 
bottom  of  the  tallest  trees  and  would  be  down  to  the  ground, 
were  it  not  eat  up  by  the  cattle.  But  as  it  is  full  of  juice  and 
very  sweet,  they  exert  their  whole  strength  to  obtain  it,,  in 
which  they  receive  no  assistance  from  their  Masters,  tho' 
they  own  it  is  excellent  feeding,  but  they  are  too  indolent  to 
take  any  trouble,  and  the  cattle  must  provide  for  themselves 
or  starve.*  The  women  however  gather  it  at  a  certain  season, 
lay  it  in  pits  as  we  do  our  green  lint,  till  the  husk  rot.  It  is 
made  up  of  small  tubes,  within  each  of  which  is  a  substance, 
which  exactly  resembles  that  of  the  baken  hair  with  which 
we  stuff  chairs,  matrasses,  etc,  etc.  and  which  answers  pretty 
well  with  a  very  little  trouble  and  no  cost. 

The  trees  that  keep  clear  from  this  black  moss  (as  it  is 
called)  are  crowned  with  the  Mistletoe  in  much  higher  per- 
fection than  ever  you  saw  it,  and  as  it  is  just  now  in  berry 
looks  beautiful.  Indeed  all  the  trees  do  so  at  this  Season. 
The  wild  fruits  are  in  blossom  and  have  a  fine  effect  amongst 
the  forest-trees.  Amongst  the  various  trees  that  grow  here, 
none  seems  so  fit  for  the  Cabinet  maker's  use  as  the  red  Mul- 
berry. Its  colour  is  infinitely  more  beautiful  than  the  ma- 
hogany and  it  is  so  hard  and  close  as  to  resist  vermine,  and 
grows  large  enough  to  afford  planks  of  any  size,  yet  it  is  only 
used  to  burn  or  for  the  most  common  purposes.  It  grows 
spontaneously  every  where,  and  the  White  Mulberry  is  also 
found  in  every  place,  which  points  out  that  the  making  of 
silk  in  this  part  of  the  country  could  be  done  with  great  ease. 

*  "As  far  as  cattle  and  stock  are  concerned,  it  is  purely  their  care  to  see 
to  it  how  they  get  through  the  winter;  with  horses  it  is  no  better.  If  they 
survive  it,  they  survive  it.  Hay  they  have  none  for  there  are  no  meadows  and 
corn  fodder  and  tops  do  not  go  far.  Thus  in  winter  the  people  have  no  milk 
at  all,  and  when  spring  comes  the  cows  are  so  nearly  starved  out  as  to  be  of 
little  benefit  till  harvest.  This  may  be  the  reason  that  their  horses  are  not 
much  larger  than  English  colts,  and  their  cows  the  size  of  their  yearlings" 
(Diary  of  Bishop  Spangenburg,  1752,  North  Carolina  Records,  V,  2). 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          153 

But  tho'  I  may  say  of  this  place  what  I  formerly  did  of  the 
West  India  Islands,  that  nature  holds  out  to  them  every 
thing  that  can  contribute  to  conveniency,  or  tempt  to  luxury, 
yet  the  inhabitants  resist  both,  and  if  they  can  raise  as  much 
corn  and  pork,  as  to  subsist  them  in  the  most  slovenly  man- 
ner, they  ask  no  more;  and  as  a  very  small  proportion  of 
their  time  serves  for  that  purpose,  the  rest  is  spent  in  saunter- 
ing thro'  the  woods  with  a  gun  or  sitting  under  a  rustick 
shade,  drinking  New  England  rum  made  into  grog,  the  most 
shocking  liquor  you  can  imagine.  By  this  manner  of  living, 
their  blood  is  spoil' d  and  rendered  thin  beyond  all  propor- 
tion, so  that  it  is  constantly  on  the  fret  like  bad  small  beer, 
and  hence  the  constant  slow  fevers  that  wear  down  their  con- 
stitutions, relax  their  nerves  and  infeeble  the  whole  frame. 
Their  appearance  is  in  every  respect  the  reverse  of  that  which 
gives  the  idea  of  strength  and  vigor,  and  for  which  the  Brit- 
ish peasantry  are  so  remarkable.  They  are  tall  and  lean,  with 
short  waists  and  long  limbs,  sallow  complexions  and  languid 
eyes,  when  not  inflamed  by  spirits.  Their  feet  are  flat,  their 
joints  loose  and  their  walk  uneven.  These  I  speak  of  are  only 
the  peasantry  of  this  country,  as  hitherto  I  have  seen  nothing 
else,  but  I  make  no  doubt  when  I  come  to  see  the  better  sort, 
they  will  be  far  from  this  description.  For  tho'  there  is  a  most 
disgusting  equality,  yet  I  hope  to  find  an  American  Gentle- 
man a  very  different  creature  from  an  American  clown. 
Heaven  forefend  else. 

Wilmingtown.* 

I  have  been  in  town  a  few  days,  and  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  some  little  observations  on  the  manners  of  a 
people  so  new  to  me.  The  ball  I  mentioned  was  intended  as  a 
civility,  therefore  I  will  not  criticize  it,  and  tho'  I  have  not 

*  For  Wilmington,  see  accompanying  plan  and  the  description  in  Appen- 
dix VI. 


154     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  same  reason  to  spare  the  company,  yet  I  will  not  fatigue 
you  with  a  description,  which  however  lively  or  just,  would 
at  best  resemble  a  Dutch  picture,  where  the  injudicious 
choice  of  the  subject  destroys  the  merit  of  the  painting.  Let 
it  suffice  to  say  that  a  ball  we  had,  where  were  dresses,  danc- 
ing and  ceremonies  laughable  enough,  but  there  was  no 
object  on  which  my  own  ridicule  fixed  equal  to  myself  and 
the  figure  I  made,  dressed  out  in  all  my  British  airs  with  a 
high  head  and  a  hoop  and  trudging  thro'  the  unpaved  streets 
in  embroidered  shoes  by  the  light  of  a  lanthorn  carried  by  a 
black  wench  half  naked.  No  chair,  no  carriage — good  leather 
shoes  need  none.  The  ridicule  was  the  silk  shoes  in  such  a 
place.  I  have  however  gained  some  most  amiable  and  agree- 
able acquaintances  amongst  the  Ladies;  many  of  whom 
would  make  a  figure  in  any  part  of  the  world,  and  I  will  not 
fail  to  cultivate  their  esteem,  as  they  appear  worthy  of  mine. 

I  am  sorry  to  say,  however,  that  I  have  met  with  few  of 
the  men  who  are  natives  of  the  country,  who  rise  much  above 
my  former  description,  and  as  their  natural  ferocity  is  now 
inflamed  by  the  fury  of  an  ignorant  zeal,  they  are  of  that 
sort  of  figure,  that  I  cannot  look  at  them  without  connecting 
the  idea  of  tar  and  feather.  Tho'  they  have  fine  women  and 
such  as  might  inspire  any  man  with  sentiments  that  do 
honour  to  humanity,  yet  they  know  no  such  nice  distinctions, 
and  in  this  at  least  are  real  patriots.  As  the  population  of  the 
country  is  all  the  view  they  have  in  what  they  call  love,  and 
tho'  they  often  honour  their  black  wenches  with  their  atten- 
tion, I  sincerely  believe  they  are  excited  to  that  crime  by  no 
other  desire  or  motive  but  that  of  adding  to  the  number  of 
their  slaves. 

The  difference  between  the  men  and  the  women  surprised 
me,  but  a  sensible  man,  who  has  long  resided  here,  in  some 
degrees  accounted  for  it.  In  the  infancy  of  this  province,  said 
he,  many  families  from  Britain  came  over,  and  of  these  the 
wives  and  daughters  were  people  of  education.  The  mothers 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          155 

took  the  care  of  the  girls,  they  were  train' d  up  under  them, 
and  not  only  instructed  in  the  family  duties  necessary  to  the 
sex,  but  in  those  accomplishments  and  genteel  manners  that 
are  still  so  visible  amongst  them,  and  this  descended  from 
Mother  to  daughter.  As  the  father  found  the  labours  of  his 
boys  necessary  to  him,  he  led  them  therefore  to  the  woods, 
and  taught  the  sturdy  lad  to  glory  in  the  stroke  he  could 
give  with  his  Ax,  in  the  trees  he  felled,  and  the  deer  he  shot; 
to  conjure  the  wolfe,  the  bear  and  the  Alligator;  and  to 
guard  his  habitition  from  Indian  inroads  was  most  justly  his 
pride,  and  he  had  reason  to  boast  of  it.  But  a  few  generations 
this  way  lost  every  art  or  science,  which  their  fathers  might 
have  brought  out,  and  tho'  necessity  no  longer  prescribed 
these  severe  occupations,  custom  has  established  it  as  still 
necessary  for  the  men  to  spend  their  time  abroad  in  the 
fields ;  and  to  be  a  good  marksman  is  the  highest  ambition  of 
the  youth,  while  to  those  enervated  by  age  or  infirmity  drink- 
ing grog  remained  a  last  consolation. 

The  Ladies  have  burnt  their  tea  in  a  solemn  procession,* 
but  they  had  delayed  however  till  the  sacrifice  was  not  very 
considerable,  as  I  do  not  think  any  one  offered  above  a 
quarter  of  a  pound.  The  people  in  town  live  decently,  and 
tho'  their  houses  are  not  spacious,  they  are  in  general  very 
commodious  and  well  furnished.  All  the  Merchants  of  any 
note  are  British  and  Irish,  f  and  many  of  them  very  genteel 
people.  They  all  disapprove  of  the  present  proceedings. 
Many  of  them  intend  quitting  the  country  as  fast  as  their 
affairs  will  permit  them,  but  are  yet  uncertain  what  steps  to 
take.  This  town  lies  low,  but  is  not  disagreeable.  There  is  at 

*  Miss  Schaw  may  refer  here  to  the  Edenton  tea  party  of  October  25, 
1774,  but  more  probably  she  has  in  mind  some  Wilmington  tea  party  of 
which,  as  far  as  we  know,  no  record  exists.  At  Edenton  the  tea  was  not 
"burnt ;"  and  as  at  Wilmington  the  proceedings  at  this  time  far  exceeded  in 
violence  those  in  the  quiet  Albermarle  section,  it  is  quite  likely  that  Miss 
Schaw  is  recording  a  fact  that  has  hitherto  escaped  observation. 

f  That  is,  Scots  Irish.  "British"  is  evidently  intended  to  include  "Scot- 
tish," as  Scotland  at  this  time  was  called  North  Britain. 


156     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

each  end  of  it  an  ascent,  which  is  dignified  with  the  title  of 
the  hills;  on  them  are  some  very  good  houses  and  there 
almost  all  my  acquaintances  are.  They  have  very  good  Phy- 
sicians,* the  best  of  whom  is  a  Scotchman,  f  at  whose  house 
I  have  seen  many  of  the  first  planters.  I  do  not  wish  however 
to  be  much  in  their  company,  for,  as  you  know,  my  tongue 
is  not  always  under  my  command ;  I  fear  I  might  say  some- 
thing to  give  offence,  in  which  case  I  would  not  fail  to  have 
the  most  shocking  retort  at  least,  if  it  went  no  further. 

The  ports  are  soon  to  be  shut  up,J  but  this  severity  is 
voluntarily  imposed  by  themselves,  for  they  were  indulged 
by  parliament  and  allowed  the  exclusive  privilege  of  still 
carrying  on  their  trade  with  Europe,  by  which  means  they 
would  not  only  have  made  great  fortunes  themselves  by 
being  the  mart  for  the  whole  continent,  but  they  would  have 
had  the  power  to  serve  the  other  colonies  by  providing  them 
in  those  commodities,  the  want  of  which  they  will  ill  brook, 
and  which  is  a  distress  they  themselves  must  soon  suffer,  as 
European  goods  begin  to  be  very  scarce  and  will  daily  be 
more  so,  as  the  merch18  are  shipping  off  their  propertys,  either 
to  Britain  or  the  West  Indies.  I  know  not  what  my  brother 
proposes  to  do  with  himself  or  me;  for  if  he  stays  much 
longer,  he  will  find  himself  in  a  very  disagreeable  situation. 
He  is  just  now  up  the  country  at  a  town  called  Newbern, 
where  Govr  Martin  ||  resides,  whose  situation  is  most  terrible. 
He  is  a  worthy  man  by  all  accounts,  but  gentle  methods  will 

*As  early  as  1736  there  was  a  physician,  Dr.  Roger  Rolfe,  in  New 
Liverpool,  as  Wilmington  was  then  called.  Two  others,  Drs.  Mortimer  and 
Green,  died  in  1772.  At  the  time  of  Miss  Schaw's  visit  Dr.  Cobham  and  Dr. 
Tucker  were  those  whose  names  are  most  frequently  met  with. 

f  For  Dr.  Thomas  Cobham,  see  Appendix  XII. 

JThe  most  important  feature  of  the  Continental  Association  was  a  non- 
importation agreement,  to  go  into  force  (by  an  extension  of  time  from 
December  l,  1774)  on  February  i,  1775.  The  Association  was  not  formally 
adopted  in  North  Carolina  until  April  5,  1775  (N,  C.  R.  IX,  1180-1181),  so 
that  Miss  Schaw  must  have  written  her  account  a  few  days  before  that  date. 

||  For  Governor  Josiah  Martin,  see  Appendix  II,  "The  Martin  Family." 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          157 

not  do  with  these  nisticks,  and  he  has  not  the  power  to  use 
more  spirited  means.  I  wish  to  God  those  mistaken  notions 
of  moderation  to  which  you  adhere  at  home  may  not  in  the 
end  prove  the  greatest  cruelty  to  the  mother  country  as  well 
as  to  these  infatuated  people;  but  I  am  no  politician,  as  yet 
at  least,  tho'  I  believe  I  will  grow  one  in  time,  as  I  am  begin- 
ning to  pay  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  what  is  going  on 
about  me. 

You  will  rejoice  with  me  to  hear  that  your  young  friends, 
Miss  Rutherfurd  and  her  brothers,  have  got  a  very  con- 
siderable accession  to  their  fortunes,  by  a  gift  of  an  old 
lady,*  their  father  and  mother's  great  friend,  and  whose 
death  is  hourly  expected,  as  she  has  long  been  in  a  dropsy 
that  now  seems  at  a  height.  Mr  Rutherfurd  is  as  much  in 
love  with  his  daughter  as  I  expected  he  would  be,  and  so 
fond  of  the  boys,  that  I  fear  they  will  be  quite  spoiled.  I  am 
as  yet  indulged  with  their  company,  but  find  the  old  Lady 
wishes  to  have  Fanny  with  her,  which  is  very  right,  tho'  I 
am  in  pain  for  her  with  an  old  woman  not  of  the  best  charac- 
ter or  most  amiable  manners,  and  in  so  lonely  a  situation. 
But  her  gratitude  and  good  sense  will  do  much  to  please  her. 
I  inclose  this  and  leave  it  behind  me  to  go  by  the  first  ship. 
Mrs  Schaw  is  impatient  to  get  home,  nor  can  I  blame  the 
anxiety  of  a  mother  for  her  little  onesf  in  such  brutal  hands 
as  the  Negroes  to  whose  care  she  is  forced  to  leave  them  in 
her  absence.  Perhaps  my  next  may  be  from  S*  Kitts,  but  in 

*  The  "old  lady"  whom  Miss  Schaw  describes  as  "not  of  the  best  character 
or  most  amiable  manners"  was  Mrs.  Jean  Corbin,  who  married,  first,  Colonel 
James  Innes,  of  Braddock's  campaign  (died  1759),  and  second,  in  1761, 
Francis  Corbin,  Lord  Granville's  agent  in  North  Carolina  (Appendix  VIII). 
She  made  her  will  on  February  10,  1775,  and  died  probably  toward  the  end 
of  the  next  month.  The  will  was  probated  on  April  3  and  the  inventory  com- 
pleted on  the  thirteenth.  Of  her  history  nothing  else  is  known,  neither  who 
she  was — though  "Jean"  is  manifestly  a  Scottish  name — nor  when  she  was 
first  married.  For  the  bequest,  see  Appendix  X. 

f  Evidently  referring  to  Mrs.  Schaw's  two  youngest  children,  Alexander 
and  Robert,  sons  of  the  second  husband,  Miss  Schaw's  brother  Robert  (be- 
low, p.  160). 


158     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

this  I  suppose  my  brother  will  be  directed  by  Govr  Martin, 
if  he  can  be  of  any  use,  I  am  sure  he  will  willingly  run  every 
risk,  as  I  can  answer  for  it,  the  king  has  not  a  more  sincere  or 
loyal  subject.  Farewell,  my  dear  friend,  that  God  may  de- 
liver us  from  this,  and  preserve  you,  is  the  prayer  of  a  mind 
not  much  at  its  ease. 


Schawfield. 

After  I  put  my  last  packet  into  a  safe  hand,  I  left  Wil- 
mingtown  and  returned  to  Schawfield  by  water,  which  is  a 
most  delightful  method  of  travelling  thro'  this  Noble  coun- 
try, which  indeed  owes  more  favours  to  its  God  and  king 
than  perhaps  any  other  in  the  known  world  and  is  equally 
ungrateful  to  both,  to  the  God  who  created  and  bestowed 
them  and  to  the  king  whose  indulgent  kindness  has  done 
every  thing  to  render  them  of  the  greatest  utility  to  the 
owners.  Well  may  the  following  text  from  the  prophets  be 
applied  to  this  people,  and  with  very  little  alteration  may  be 
addressed  to  them.  "My  beloved  has  a  vineyard  in  a  very 
pleasant  land,  he  Dig'd  it,  he  planted  it,  he  hedged  it  round, 
and  built  a  winepress  in  the  midst  thereof,  but  when  he 
looked  for  grapes,  they  brought  forth  wild  grapes.  Judge  I 
pray  you  between  me  and  my  vineyard,  what  could  I  do  more 
for  it  than  I  have  done,  yet  when  I  looked  for  grapes,  behold 
it  brought  forth  only  wild  grapes.  Go  to,  I  will  tell  you  what 
I  will  do  to  my  vineyard,  I  will  take  away  the  fence  thereof, 
I  will  break  down  the  wine  press  in  the  midst  thereof,  and  I 
will  leave  it  as  I  found  it  a  habitation  to  wolves  and  bears." 
Such  is  the  fate  it  deserves,  but  both  its  God  and  its  king  are 
merciful.  May  they  be  inspired  to  seek  it  before  it  be  too  late. 

Nothing  can  be  finer  than  the  banks  of  this  river;  a  thou- 
sand beauties  both  of  the  flowery  and  sylvan  tribe  hang  over 
it  and  are  reflected  from  it  with  additional  lustre.  But  they 
spend  their  beauties  on  the  desert  air,  and  the  pines  that 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          159 

wave  behind  the  shore  with  a  solemn  gravity  seem  to  lament 
that  they  too  exist  to  no  purpose,  tho'  capable  of  being  ren- 
dered both  useful  and  agreeable.  For  those  noble  trees  that 
might  adorn  the  palaces  of  kings  are  left  to  the  stroke  of  the 
thunder,  or  to  the  annihilating  hand  of  time,  and  against 
whom  the  hard  Sentence  (tho'  innocent  of  the  crime)  may  be 
pronounced,  why  cumber  ye  the  ground?  As  that  is  all  that 
can  be  said  of  them  in  their  present  state  that  they  cover 
many  hundred,  nay  thousand  acres  of  the  finest  ground  in  the 
universe,  and  give  shelter  to  every  hurtful  and  obnoxious 
animal,  tho'  their  site  is  a  most  convenient  situation  both  for 
trading  towns  and  plantations.  This  north  west  branch  is 
said  to  be  navigable  for  Ships  of  400  tons  burthen  for  above 
two  hundred  miles  up,  and  the  banks  so  constituted  by  nature 
that  they  seem  formed  for  harbours,  and  what  adds  in  a  most 
particular  manner  to  this  convenience  is,  that  quite  across 
from  one  branch  to  the  other,  and  indeed  thro'  the  whole 
country  are  innumerable  creeks  that  communicate  with  the 
main  branches  of  the  river  and  every  tide  receive  a  sufficient 
depth  of  water  for  boats  of  the  largest  size  and  even  for 
small  Vessels,  so  that  every  thing  is  water-borne  at  a  small 
charge  and  with  great  safety  and  ease. 

But  these  uncommon  advantages  are  almost  entirely  neg- 
lected. In  the  course  of  sixteen  miles  which  is  the  distance 
between  these  places  and  the  town,  there  is  but  one  planta- 
tion, and  the  condition  it  is  in  shows,  if  not  the  poverty,  at 
least  the  indolence*  of  its  owner.  My  brother  indeed  is  in 
some  degree  an  exception  to  this  reflection.  Indolent  he  is 

*  The  word  "indolence,"  here  and  elsewhere  used  by  Miss  Schaw,  was 
frequently  employed  by  critics  of  the  southern  colonies,  who,  accustomed  as 
many  of  them  were  to  the  careful  husbandry  of  the  Old  World,  were  often 
roused  to  indignant  protest  against  the  slipshod  methods  of  agriculture  in 
vogue  in  America  and  the  idleness  which  was  encouraged  by  an  all  too 
bounteous  nature  (cf.  N.  C.  R.  V,  314,  640;  VI,  1040).  We  may  not  wonder 
that  the  impressions  which  Miss  Schaw  received  of  North  Carolina  were 
unfavorable  or  that  she  should  have  expressed  her  opinions  so  frankly.  She 
was  writing  to  a  private  correspondent  and  not  for  the  press.  She  had  come 


160     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

not;  his  industry  is  visible  in  every  thing  round  him,  yet  he 
also  is  culpable  in  adhering  to  the  prejudices  of  this  part  of 
the  world,  and  in  using  only  the  American  methods  of  culti- 
vating his  plantation.  Had  he  followed  the  style  of  an  East 
Lothian  farmer,  with  the  same  attention  and  care,  it  would 
now  have  been  an  Estate  worth  double  what  it  is.  Yet  he  has 
done  more  in  the  time  he  has  had  it*  than  any  of  his  Neigh- 
bours, and  even  in  their  slow  way,  his  industry  has  brought 
it  to  a  wonderful  length.  He  left  Britain  while  he  was  a  boy, 
and  was  many  years  in  trade  before  he  turned  planter,  and 
had  lost  the  remembrance  of  what  he  had  indeed  little  oppor- 
tunity of  studying,  I  mean  farming.  His  brother  easily  con- 
vinced him  of  the  superiority  of  our  manner  of  carrying  on 
our  agriculture,  but  Mrs  Schawf  was  shocked  at  the  mention 
of  our  manuring  the  ground,  and  declared  she  never  would 
eat  corn  that  grew  thro'  dirt.  Indeed  she  is  so  rooted  an 
American,  that  she  detests  every  thing  that  is  European,  yet 

from  Scotland,  by  way  of  Antigua  and  St.  Kitts,  to  a  frontier  country,  which 
was  still  in  large  part  a  wilderness  and  where  agriculture  was  still  unde- 
veloped. Her  impressions  were  similar  to  those  of  many  a  New  Englander 
who  visited  the  Middle  West  in  the  early  nineteenth  century,  or  of  those 
English  men  and  women  who  made  tours  of  the  United  States  before  1840. 
In  a  more  limited  field  she  was  a  forerunner  of  Mrs.  Trollope,  whose 
Domestic  Manners  of  the  Americans  pictures  more  elaborately,  but  with 
equal  vigor,  some  of  the  cruder  aspects  of  early  American  life.  Unlike  Mrs. 
Trollope,  however,  she  was  influenced  in  her  criticisms  by  a  dislike  of 
democracy  and  a  profound  distrust  of  radical  activities. 

*  Robert  Schaw  acquired  "Schawfield"  in  1772  and  1773. 

f  Though  we  have  not  been  able  to  trace  Mrs.  Robert  Schaw's  connec- 
tions with  any  degree  of  certainty,  it  is  fairly  clear  that  she  was  related, 
either  nearly  or  remotely,  to  the  "best  people  in  the  country,"  as  Miss  Schaw 
says.  Miss  Schaw  would  not  have  used  this  phrase  without  ample  knowledge 
of  that  whereof  she  wrote.  If  Mrs.  Schaw,  who  was  Anne  Vail  before  her 
marriage  with  her  first  husband,  Job  Howe  (elder  brother  of  Robert),  be- 
longed to  the  family  of  John  and  Jeremiah  Vail  of  Perquimans  and  Craven 
counties,  she  was  related  to  the  Swanns,  Ashes,  Lillingtons,  Moseleys, 
Hasells,  Porters,  and  Moores — the  "best  people"  in  very  truth,  and  engaged, 
most  of  them,  as  Miss  Schaw  says  later,  in  the  revolutionary  movement. 

Mrs.  Schaw  died  in  1788,  leaving  her  property  to  her  two  sons,  William 
Tryon  Howe  and  Alexander  Schaw,  with  a  bequest  of  six  negroes  to  Isabella 
Chapman,  who,  we  suspect,  was  a  daughter  of  Barbara  Rutherfurd  (John's 
sister)  and  Alexander  Chapman  of  Wilmington.  The  fact  that  she  made  be- 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          161 

she  is  a  most  excellent  wife  and  a  fond  mother.  Her  dairy 
and  her  garden  show  her  industry,  tho'  even  there  she  is  an 
American.  However  he  has  no  cause  to  complain.  Her  person 
is  agreeable,  and  if  she  would  pay  it  a  little  more  attention, 
it  would  be  lovely.  She  is  connected  with  the  best  people  in 
the  country,  and,  I  hope,  will  have  interest  enough  to  prevent 
her  husband  being  ruined  for  not  joining  in  a  cause  he  so 
much  disapproves. 

I  have  just  mentioned  a  garden,  and  will  tell  you,  that  this 
at  Schawfield  is  the  only  thing  deserving  the  name  I  have 
seen  in  this  country,  and  laid  out  with  some  taste.  I  could 
not  help  smiling  however  at  the  appearance  of  a  soil,  that 
seemed  to  me  no  better  than  dead  sand,  proposed  for  a  gar- 
den. But  a  few  weeks  have  convinced  me  that  I  judged  very 
falsely,  for  the  quickness  of  the  vegetation  is  absolutely 
astonishing.  Nature  to  whose  care  every  thing  is  left  does  a 
vast  deal ;  but  I  remember  to  have  read,  tho'  I  forget  where, 
that  Adam  when  he  was  turned  out  of  paradise  was  allowed 
to  carry  seeds  with  him  of  those  fruits  he  had  been  suffered 
to  eat  of  when  there,  but  found  on  trial  that  the  curse  had 
extended  even  to  them;  for  they  were  harsh  and  very  un- 
palatable, far  different  from  what  he  had  eat  there  in  his 
happy  state.  Our  poor  father,  who  from  his  infancy  [alter- 
native reading,  from  his  first  creation]  had  been  used  to  live 
well,  like  those  of  his  descendents,  was  the  more  sensible  of 
the  change,  and  he  wept  bitterly  before  his  beneficent  Crea- 
tor, who  once  more  had  pity  on  him,  and  the  compassionate 
Angel  again  descended  to  give  him  comfort  and  relief. 
"Adam,"  began  the  heavenly  messenger,  "the  sentence  is 
passed,  it  is  irrevocable ;  the  ground  has  been  cursed  for  your 

quests  also  to  the  daughters  of  Joseph  Leech  of  New  Bern,  strengthens  the 
belief  that  she  was  related  to  Jeremiah  Vail,  who  was  of  the  same  town. 
In  her  will  she  names  as  one  of  her  executors  "John  Rutherfurd"  (Clerk's 
Office,  Wills,  C,  p.  396).  If  she  means  the  father  it  is  strange  that  she  should 
not  have  known  that  he  had  died  five  years  before.  She  may  mean  the  son, 
who  in  1787  would  have  been  twenty-four  years  of  age. 


162     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

sake,  and  thorns  and  briers  it  must  bring  forth,  and  you  must 
eat  your  bread  with  the  sweat  of  your  brow,  yet  the  curse 
does  not  extend  to  your  labours,  and  it  yet  depends  on  your 
own  choice  to  live  in  plenty  or  in  penury.  Patience  and  indus- 
try will  get  the  better  of  every  difficulty,  and  the  ground  will 
bear  thistles  only  while  your  indolence  permits  it.  The  fruits 
also  will  be  harsh  while  you  allow  them  to  remain  in  a  state 
of  uncultivated  nature;  because  man  is  allowed  no  enjoy- 
ment without  labour;  and  the  hand  of  industry  improves 
even  the  choicest  gifts  of  heaven."  Adam  bowed  in  grateful 
acknowledgment,  and  his  heavenly  instructor  led  him  forth 
to  the  field,  and  soon  taught  him  that  God  had  given  him 
power  over  the  inanimate  as  well  as  the  animate  part  of  the 
creation,  and  that  not  only  every  beast  and  every  bird  was 
under  his  command,  but  that  he  had  power  over  the  whole 
vegetable  world;  and  he  soon  proved  that  the  hand  of  indus- 
try could  make  the  rose  bloom,  where  nature  had  only 
planted  the  thistle,  and  saw  the  fig-tree  blossom,  where  lately 
the  wild  bramble  was  all  its  boast.  He  taught  him  that  not 
only  the  harsh  sourness  of  the  crab  was  corrected,  but  the 
taste  and  flavour  of  the  peach  improven;  by  the  art  of  in- 
grafting and  budding  the  pear  became  more  luscious,  and 
even  the  nectarine  juice  was  poor  and  insipid  without  this 
assistance.  Adam  had  no  prejudices  to  combat,  he  gave  the 
credit  due  to  his  heavenly  instructor,  and  soon  saw  a  new 
Eden  flourish  in  the  desert  from  his  labours,  and  eat  fruit 
little  inferior  to  those  he  had  left,  rendered  indeed  even 
superior  to  his  taste  by  being  the  reward  of  his  honest  In- 
dustry. 

As  I  cannot  produce  my  Authority,  perhaps  you  may  sus- 
pect I  have  none,  but  that  it  was  coined  for  the  present  pur- 
pose, should  you  think  so,  I  cannot  help  it,  but  should 
Gabriel  himself  assure  the  folks  here  that  industry  would 
render  every  thing  better,  they  would  as  little  believe  him, 
as  they  would  your  humble  servant.  Truly  the  only  parable 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          163 

they  mind  is  that  of  the  lily  of  the  Valley,  which  they  imi- 
tate as  it  toils  not,  neither  does  it  spin,  but  whether  their 
glory  exceeds  that  of  Solomon  is  another  question,  but  cer- 
tain it  is  they  take  things  as  they  come  without  troubling 
themselves  with  improvements.  I  have  as  yet  tasted  none  of 
their  fruits,  but  am  told  that  notwithstanding  the  vast  ad- 
vantages of  climate,  they  are  not  equal  in  flavour  to  those 
at  home  in  our  gardens, — on  walls  which  indeed  they  have 
no  occasion  for.  Wherever  you  see  the  peach  trees,  you  find 
hard  by  a  group  of  plumbs  so  fit  for  stocks,  that  nature  seems 
to  have  set  them  there  on  purpose.  But  her  hints  and  the 
advice  of  those  who  know  the  advantages  of  it  are  equally 
unregarded.  There  are  also  many  things  that  are  fit  for 
hedges,  which  would  be  a  vast  advantage,  but  these  straggle 
wild  thro'  the  field  or  woods,  while  every  inclosure  is  made 
of  a  set  of  logs  laid  zagly  close  over  each  other.* 

On  our  arrival  here  the  stalks  of  last  year's  crop  still  re- 
mained on  the  ground.  At  this  I  was  greatly  surprised,  as  the 
season  was  now  so  far  advanced,  I  expected  to  have  found 
the  fields  completely  ploughed  at  least,  if  not  sown  and  har- 
rowed; but  how  much  was  my  amazement  increased  to  find 
that  every  instrument  of  husbandry  was  unknown  here ;  not 
only  all  the  various  ploughs,  but  all  the  machinery  used  with 
such  success  at  home,  and  that  the  only  instrument  used  is  a 
hoe,  with  which  they  at  once  till  and  plant  the  corn.  To 
accomplish  this  a  number  of  Negroes  follow  each  other's 
tail  the  day  long,  and  have  a  task  assigned  them,  and  it  will 
take  twenty  at  least  to  do  as  much  work  as  two  horses  with 
a  man  and  a  boy  would  perform.  Here  the  wheel-plough 
would  answer  finely,  as  the  ground  is  quite  flat,  the  soil  light 

*  The  fence  here  mentioned  is  the  "zigzag"  or  Virginian  fence,  found 
sometimes  in  southern  New  England,  and  frequently  in  the  Middle  West, 
where  it  is  known  as  the  "snake  fence"  or  "log  fence."  The  rails,  usually  split, 
are  laid  zigzag  fashion,  one  upon  another,  without  posts,  but  generally  with 
bracing  of  some  sort  at  the  angles.  It  is  a  slovenly  affair;  though  easy  to 
make  and  convenient  for  removing.  Its  height  runs  from  three  to  five  feet. 


164     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  not  a  stone  to  be  met  with  in  a  thousand  acres.  A  drill 
too  might  easily  be  constructed  for  sowing  the  seed,  and  a 
light  harrow  would  close  it  in  with  surprising  expedition.  It 
is  easy  to  observe  however  from  whence  this  ridiculous 
method  of  theirs  took  its  first  necessary  rise.  When  the  new 
Settlers  were  obliged  to  sow  corn  for  their  immediate  main- 
tenance, before  they  were  able  to  root  out  the  trees,  it  is 
plain  no  other  instrument  but  the  hoe  could  be  used  amongst 
the  roots  of  the  trees,  where  it  was  to  be  planted,  and  they 
were  obliged  to  do  it  all  by  hand  labour.  But  thro'  this 
indolence  some  of  them  have  their  plantations  still  pretty 
much  incumbered  in  that  way,  yet  to  do  justice  to  the  better 
sort,  that  is  not  generally  the  case.  Tho'  it  is  all  one  as  to  the 
manner  of  dressing  their  fields,  the  same  absurd  method  con- 
tinuing every  where.  If  horses  were  hard  to  come  at  or  unfit 
for  labour,  that  might  be  some  excuse,  but  far  is  it  otherwise. 
They  have  them  in  plenty,  and  strong  animals  they  are  and 
fit  for  the  hardest  labour.* 

The  little  time  I  have  been  here  and  the  little  of  the  coun- 
try I  have  seen  hardly  admit  of  my  sending  you  such  particu- 
lar accounts.  The  truth  is,  I  should  not  in  many  years  be  able 
to  give  you  so  much  merely  from  my  own  observation,  but  I 
have  been  much  indebted  to  other  people,  particularly  an  old 
Gentleman,  who  has  been  many  years  in  this  country,  and 
did  not  leave  his  own  till  he  was  arrived  at  a  time  of  life  to 
remember  it  perfectly  and  draw  proper  comparisons ;  for  this 
he  was  perfectly  qualified,  as  he  was  both  a  scholar  and  a 
man  of  sense.  He  left  his  country  on  account  of  some  un- 

*  Had  Miss  Schaw  visited  the  middle  and  northern  colonies  where  the 
staples  were  similar  to  those  of  Mid  Lothian,  she  would  have  found  agri- 
cultural conditions  more  to  her  liking.  Both  manuring  and  grafting  were 
known  and  their  value  understood  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  New 
England,  and  though  farming  devices  and  appliances  were  inevitably  crude, 
they  were  not  so  far  behind  those  of  Scotland  as  were  the  contrivances  of  the 
plantation  colonies.  Probably  Miss  Schaw  did  not  herself  realize  how  com- 
paratively recent  were  the  improvements  in  agricultural  methods  employed 
by  the  East  Lothian  farmers,  whom  she  so  greatly  admired. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          165 

happy  affair,  which  is  needless  to  relate ;  spent  several  years 
in  Holland,  every  part  of  which  he  seems  to  have  studied 
with  accuracy.  He  has  a  very  good  idea  of  farming  in  all  its 
parts,  is  an  excellent  Mathematician  and  has  no  bad  smat- 
tering of  Mechanicks;  he  has  studied  Physic  and  Botany;  of 
the  last  he  is  particularly  fond,  and  this  country  affords  him 
ample  gratification  for  that  study,  as  there  is  hardly  a  medici- 
nal herb  or  plant  produced  in  any  climate  that  he  has  not 
discovered  something  here  to  answer  its  purposes.  Add  to  this 
that  his  manners  are  those  of  a  Gentleman  and  his  deportment 
such  as  may  render  age  respectable;  his  conversation  agree- 
able and  instructive,  and  his  good  nature  most  extensive. 
Would  you  not  imagine  this  man  would  be  prized  and 
courted?  that  the  young  would  refer  to  his  experience,  and 
those  of  riper  years  apply  to  his  superior  knowledge.  That 
however  is  far  from  the  case.  He  has  found  but  one  man  who 
had  sense  enough  to  understand  him,  and  whose  friendship 
he  has  cultivated.  Who  this  man  is  you  may  know  hereafter; 
sorry  I  am  it  is  not  my  brother. 

With  this  friend  he  lives  a  pleasant  tho'  obscure  life;  as 
the  Gentleman  is  fond  of  retirement  himself,  he  easily  in- 
dulges his  old  friend.  They  both  love  reading,  and  are  better 
provided  for  that  amusement  than  all  the  rest  of  the  province 
put  together.*  I  am  fond  of  conversing  with  him,  and  happy 
in  fancying  he  is  pleased  with  my  curiosity.  He  is  always 
willing  to  answer  my  interrogatories,  nor  is  prolixity  dis- 
pleasing, as  it  shows  me  how  willing  he  is  to  explain  every 
thing  to  me  that  I  wish  to  know.  He  told  me,  that  when  he 
came  here,  like  other  projectors,  he  hoped  to  improve  the 
country;  that  he  had  brought  many  seeds  out  with  him, 
particularly  all  the  different  kinds  of  grass-seed,  to  try  what 

*  Evidently  John  Ruthcrfurd  is  the  man  referred  to  (see  below,  p.  184). 
That  Miss  Schaw  should  occasionally  indulge  in  exaggerations  is  not  surpris- 
ing. She  is  certainly  wrong  in  her  remarks  about  books  in  the  province,  just 
as  she  is  wrong  in  saying,  on  page  194,  that  there  were  not  five  men  of  prop- 
erty in  Wilmington  who  favored  the  revolutionary  movement. 


i66     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

would  best  answer  this  soil  and  climate,  as  he  was  thought 
no  despisable  gardener  at  home.  He  tried  it  here  and  soon 
had  a  very  good  garden  where  he  first  settled,  but  being  in  no 
situation  to  defend  his  property,  his  fruit,  his  vegetables  and 
every  thing  else  became  the  prey  of  the  neighbouring 
Negroes,  who  tore  up  his  fences,  carried  off  what  they  could 
eat  and  destroyed  the  rest.  He  then  accepted  the  invitation 
of  a  planter  of  fortune  in  the  Neighbourhood,  and  en- 
deavoured to  return  his  civility  by  being  useful  to  him. 
There  he  laid  out  a  very  neat  garden,  which  soon  produced 
every  thing  he  wished,  but  this  did  not  long  continue,  his 
neighbours  laughed  at  him  for  it.  He  first  became  sulky  and 

then  rude  to  poor  H ,  refusing  him  a  negro  to  work,  and 

bidding  him  raise  his  damned  European  stuff  with  his  own 
hands.  He  left  this  savage  and  as  the  Gentleman  in  whose 
family  he  has  long  resided  had  seen  and  admired  him,  he 
directly  begged  to  be  favoured  with  his  company,  where  he 
has  ever  since  been  as  happy  as  he  wishes  to  be.  It  is  evident 
he  was  once  no  stranger  to  the  haunts  of  men,  and  that  he  has 
formerly  known  better  days,  but  unless  he  voluntarily  comes 
on  the  subject  I  will  not  ask  his  adventures.  He  asked  me  if 
I  had  not  heard  that  poultry  was  here  in  vast  plenty,  and 
that  there  were  more  Turkeys  raised  here  than  in  any  part  of 
the  world.  I  owned  I  had  been  told  so,  but  did  not  observe  it 
to  be  the  case,  as  in  most  farmers'  yards  at  home  I  saw  more 
domestick  poultry  than  here  about  the  houses  of  the  planters. 
This  he  said  was  true,  but  that  they  all  believed  they  ex- 
ceeded, and  would  be  very  much  affronted  if  I  said  other- 
wise ;  that  they  certainly  had  opportunity  of  doing  so,  as  the 
rice  and  Indian  corn  were  fine  feeding,  but  that  now  the 
season  was  advancing,  I  would  see  how  bad  their  method  of 
managing  them  was.  This  I  have  now  been  an  eye  witness  to ; 
not  a  tenth  part  of  what  is  hatched  ever  coming  to  perfection, 
tho'  those  that  do  escape  their  nursing  come  on  prodigiously 
fast. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          167 

I  am  here  in  the  country;  my  brother  is  not  yet  returned 
and  Miss  Rutherfurd  is  gone  to  attend  her  old  friend,  who  is 
just  dying.  The  sooner  the  more  agreeable  to  me,  as  I  do  not 
approve  of  her  situation. 

We  had  company  to  day,  amongst  others  a  brother-in-law 
of  Mrs  Schaw  a  Rob*  Howe,*  or  as  he  is  called  here  Bob 
Howe.  This  Gentleman  has  the  worst  character  you  ever 
heard  thro'  the  whole  province.  He  is  however  very  like  a 
Gentleman,  much  more  so  indeed  than  any  thing  I  have  seen 
in  the  Country.  He  is  deemed  a  horrid  animal,  a  sort  of  a 
woman-eater  that  devours  every  thing  that  comes  in  his  way, 
and  that  no  woman  can  withstand  him.  But  be  not  in  pain 
for  your  friend,  I  do  assure  you  they  overrate  his  merits,  and 
as  I  am  certain  it  would  be  in  the  power  of  mortal  women  to 
withstand  him,  so  am  I  convinced  he  is  not  so  voracious  as  he 
is  represented.  But  he  has  that  general  polite  gallantry, 
which  every  man  of  good  breeding  ought  to  have,  and  when 
he  meets  with  those  who  receive  it  as  he  deserves,  I  will 
answer  it  goes  no  further,  but  if  it  has  particular  effects  on 
any  one,  I  make  not  the  least  doubt,  but  he  will  be  as  particu- 
lar as  they  please,  but  that,  as  they  chuse,  you  know.  He  is  at 
present  a  candidate  for  the  command  of  the  army  that  is  now 
raising,  for  an  army  certainly  is  raising,  fancy  to  yourselves 
what  you  please.  I  am  sure  he  came  to  speak  to  my  brother  on 
the  subject,  but  was  too  polite  to  introduce  politicks.  I  wish 
he  may  get  the  command  with  all  my  heart,  for  he  does  not 
appear  to  me  half  so  dangerous  as  another  candidate,  a  Coll : 
Moor,f  whom  I  am  compelled  at  once  to  dread  and  esteem. 
He  is  a  man  of  a  free  property  and  a  most  unblemished 
character,  has  amiable  manners;  and  a  virtuous  life  has 
gained  him  the  love  of  every  body,  and  his  popularity  is  such 
that  I  am  assured  he  will  have  more  followers  than  any  other 
man  in  the  province.  He  acts  from  a  steady  tho'  mistaken 

*  For  Robert  Howe,  see  Appendix  XI. 
f  For  James  Moore,  see  Appendix  XL 


i68     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

principle,  and  I  am  certain  has  no  view  nor  design,  but  what 
he  thinks  right  and  for  the  good  of  his  country.  He  urges  not 
a  war  of  words,  and  when  my  brother  told  him  he  would  not 
join  him,  for  he  did  not  approve  the  cause,  "Then  do  not," 
said  he,  "let  every  man  be  directed  by  his  own  ideas  of  right 
or  wrong."  If  this  man  commands,  be  assured,  he, will  find 
his  enemies  work.  His  name  is  James  Moor :  should  you  ever 
hear  him  mentioned,  think  of  the  character  I  gave  him.jf 

I  will  not  give  you  any  account  of  the  culture  of  the  rice, 
as  you  have  it  very  distinctly  in  Miller's  dictionary,*  and  it 
is  still  the  same  method.  I  am  much  out  of  the  way  of  any 
thing  here;  as  my  brother  keeps  himself  much  retired  to 
avoid  solicitations,  which  are  at  present  both  disagreeable 
and  dangerous.  But  as  I  am  really  tired  of  this  Style,  I  will 
go  down  to  town  to  amuse  myself,  and  you  will  not  have  any 
more  letters  till  then.  Adieu. 

Point  Pleasant. 

I  recollect  I  closed  my  last  with  a  promise  of  writing  you 
from  Wilmingtown,  and  should  not  have  failed,  had  not 
sundry  events  prevented  me  till  now,  when  I  once  more 
resume  my  Journal.  Early  next  morning  after  I  got  to  town, 
I  was  waked  by  the  sweetest  chorister  that  ever  I  heard  in 
my  life,  and  of  whose  uncommon  talents  I  had  no  warnings. 
It  pitched  on  a  Mulberry  tree,  close  to  the  window  of  the 

$  He  afterwards  opposed  Parker  and  Clinton  and  defeated  the  Loyalists. 

*  Philip  Miller,  The  Gardener's  Dictionary,  1731,  eight  editions.  Of 
Miller  the  London  Chronicle  printed  the  following  obituary  notice.  "Died, 
aged  upward  of  80,  Dec.  18,  1771,  Mr.  Philip  Miller,  F.R.S.,  gardener  to  the 
Apothecaries  Company,  at  their  physic-garden  at  Chelsea  [founded  by  Sir 
Hans  Sloane],  to  which  office  he  succeeded  his  father  about  fifty  years  ago, 
but  lately  resigned  on  account  of  advanced  age.  He  was  allowed  to  be  the 
best  writer  on  gardening  in  this  kingdom  and  was  honoured  with  the 
acquaintance  and  correspondence  of  the  connoisseurs  of  that  science  all  over 
Europe  and  America.  The  universal  good  reception  of  his  Dictionary  and 
Calendar,  the  esteem  in  which  they  are  still  held,  and  the  various  editions 
they  have  passed  through  will  be  a  lasting  monument  to  his  memory." 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          169 

apartment  where  I  slept  and  began  with  the  note  of  our  thrush 
so  full,  that  I  never  doubted  it  was  our  sober  suited  song- 
stress, but  presently  I  heard  those  of  the  black  bird,  which 
was  succeeded  by  the  shrill  note  of  the  lark,  and  after  a  few 
warbles,  I  heard  the  well  known  notes  of  our  Linnet  and 
Goldfinch.  I  could  not  believe  that  these  various  birds  were 
here,  yet  to  suppose  that  all  the  musick  of  a  British  grove 
was  poured  from  one  little  pipe  was  not  less  surprising.  I  got 
up  and  opened  the  window-shutter  to  take  a  peep  at  my 
musician,  but  softly  as  I  unbarred  it,  he  was  scared,  and  I 
just  saw  on  wing  what  they  call  here  the  mocking  bird.  He 
is  of  a  bluish  colour  on  the  back,  his  breast  and  head  white 
about  the  size  of  our  thrush,  and  by  no  means  pretty.  He  is 
very  improperly  named;  for  as  he  never  heard  one  of  the 
birds  I  mention,  he  cannot  be  said  to  mock  or  imitate  them. 
The  red  bird  which  is  very  pretty  has  but  a  few  notes  and 
these  form  only  a  chirp,  which  he  never  mixed  with  his 
Notes.  He  is  not  much  regarded  and  they  tell  me  will  not 
live  in  a  cage. 

It  was  very  early  when  this  little  serenader  roused  me.  I 
sat  down  to  write  while  it  was  yet  cool  and  pleasant,  and  no 
yelping  Negroes  with  their  discording  voices  to  grate  my  ears 
and  disturb  my  thoughts,  which  often  obliges  me  to  lay  down 
my  pen,  but  neither  they  nor  the  sun  were  yet  up,  and  I  had 
wrote  some  time  in  peace  and  quiet,  when  an  outcry  like  that 
of  a  score  of  hogs  going  to  the  shambles  to  be  slaughtered 
made  me  tear  my  paper  and  fly  down  stairs,  where  I  saw  the 
unhappy  occasion  of  this  uproar  was  no  less  than  the  whole 
court  of  offices  belonging  to  the  house  of  my  agreeable 
hostess  Mrs  Heron*  in  flames  and  making  hasty  steps  to  the 

*  Mrs.  Alice  Heron  was  the  widow  of  Captain  Benjamin  Heron,  one  of 
the  most  active  and  influential  men  of  the  province.  The  name  "Heron"  was 
well  known  in  Scotland  and  in  England,  where  Captain  Heron  had  a  brother, 
Charles,  an  apothecary  and  surgeon  at  Corhampton  in  Hampshire.  Mrs. 
Heron  also  had  a  sister,  Peggy,  in  England.  Captain  Heron,  as  lieutenant  in 
the  royal  navy,  had  taken  part  in  the  Cartagena  expedition,  and  afterwards, 


170     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

destruction  of  her  whole  property;  as  the  fire  had  already 
caught  hold  of  a  palling  that  joined  to  the  house.  Tho'  there 
were  upwards  of  500  blacks  and  whites  by,  yet  her  house  and 
perhaps  the  whole  town  had  been  burnt,*  had  not  some  Brit- 
ish sailors  come  to  their  assistance,  and  by  pulling  up  the  pail- 
ing,  left  a  sufficient  void,  by  which  means  the  houses  already 
on  fire  burnt  out  of  themselves.  Evident  as  this  manoeuvre 
must  have  appeared  to  every  bystander,  yet  the  inactivity  of 
trie  white  people,  and  the  perverseness  of  the  Negroes  would 
not  do  it.  As  to  the  amiable  widow  she  behaved  with  remark- 
able presence  of  mind,  and  tho'  a  considerable  loser  expressed 
her  thanks  to  providence  for  what  was  saved  in  a  most  be- 
coming manner. 

It  would  not  have  been  easy  to  resume  my  pen  after  this 
alarming  business ;  but  had  I  even  designed  it,  another  event 
put  it  again  out  of  my  power;  for  I  just  then  got  a  letter  from 
Fanny  begging  me  to  come  to  her  as  the  old  Lady  was  so  ill, 
she  could  not  survive  another  day,  and  she  had  no  female 
friend  with  her.  On  my  arrival  next  morning,  I  found  the 
old  Lady  had  taken  her  departure,  and  my  friend  very  much 

as  master  of  a  sailing  vessel,  was  accustomed  to  go  back  and  forth  between 
England  and  the  colony.  He  served  the  government  as  deputy  auditor, 
deputy  secretary,  and  clerk  of  the  pleas  and  of  the  crown,  an  office  with 
extensive  patronage  and  perquisites.  He  was  also  for  some  years  a  member  of 
the  council.  He  died  in  1771. 

By  his  will  he  left  to  his  wife  the  house  and  furniture  in  Wilmington, 
where  were  the  offices  named  in  the  narrative ;  to  his  daughter,  Mary,  his 
plantation,  "Mulberry,"  on  the  Northwest;  to  his  daughter,  Elizabeth,  his 
plantation  "Mount  Blake"  or  "Heron's"  on  the  Northeast ;  and  to  his  son, 
Robert,  lands  on  the  Sound  next  to  those  of  Job  Howe. 

*  The  Wilmington  town  and  borough  records  show  that  fires  were  a 
source  of  much  trouble  and  a  cause  of  much  legislation  in  the  early  history 
of  the  town  and  borough.  As  early  as  1749  the  possession  of  buckets  and  lad- 
ders was  made  compulsory  and  in  1751  it  was  ordered  that  any  one  whose 
chimney  got  on  fire  should  pay  a  fine  of  twenty  shillings.  Chimneys  were  to 
be  built  at  least  three  feet  above  the  ridgepole.  In  the  year  1756  a  serious 
conflagration  took  place  and  consequently  a  water  engine  was  ordered  from 
England,  hose  was  provided,  and  an  engine  house  was  built.  This  engine  got 
out  of  repair,  and  in  1772  was  deemed  too  small  and  a  larger  one  was  bought. 
When  a  fire  was  discovered  the  bell  on  the  courthouse  was  rung  to  arouse 
the  inhabitants. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          171 

shocked  and  affected  at  witnessing  a  scene  at  once  so  new  and 
solemn,  and  which  had  the  addition  of  one  of  the  Negroes 
shooting  another  almost  in  the  same  moment  his  late  pro- 
prietor expired.  For  my  own  part  I  could  find  no  regret  that 
a  tedious  and  disagreeable  attendance  had  not  been  neces- 
sary, and  that  there  was  no  fear  of  her  revoking  what  she  had 
done  in  their  favours. 

Mr  Rutherfurd  had  my  two  brothers  and  some  other  Gen- 
tlemen with  him,  and  every  thing  prepared  to  lay  her  in  the 
grave*  in  a  manner  suitable  to  her  fortune,  and  the  obliga- 
tions he  had  to  her  friendship.  Every  body  of  fashion  both 
from  the  town  and  round  the  country  were  invited,  but  the 
Solemnity  was  greatly  hurt  by  a  set  of  Volunteers,  who,  I 
thought,  must  have  fallen  from  the  moon ;  above  a  hundred 
of  whom  (of  both  sexes)  arrived  in  canoes,  just  as  the  clergy- 
man was  going  to  begin  the  service,  and  made  such  a  noise, 
it  was  hardly  to  be  heard.  A  hogshead  of  rum  and  broth  and 
vast  quantities  of  pork,  beef  and  corn-bread  were  set  forth 
for  the  entertainment  of  these  gentry.  But  as  they  observed 
the  tables  already  covered  for  the  guests;  after  the  funeral, 
they  took  care  to  be  first  back  from  it,  and  before  any  one 
got  to  the  hall,  were  placed  at  the  tables,  and  those  that  had 
not  room  to  sit  carried  off  the  dishes  to  another  room,  so  that 
an  elegant  entertainment  that  had  been  provided  went  for 
nothing.  At  last  they  got  into  their  canoes,  and  I  saw  them 
row  thro'  the  creeks,  and  suppose  they  have  little  spots  of 
ground  up  the  woods,  which  afford  them  corn  and  pork,  and 
that  on  such  occasions  they  flock  down  like  crows  to  a  car- 
rion. 

They  were  no  sooner  gone  than  the  Negroes  assembled  to 
perform  their  part  of  the  funeral  rites,  which  they  did  by 
running,  jumping,  crying  and  various  exercises.  They  are  a 
noble  troop,  the  best  in  all  the  country;  and  the  legacy,  in 

*  Mrs.  Corbin  was  buried  at  "the  bottom  of  the  lawn"  on  the  "Point 
Pleasant"  plantation,  between  her  husbands,  James  Innes  and  Francis  Corbin. 


172     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

every  part,  turns  out  more  considerable  than  was  even  at 
first  thought.  God  rest  her  soul,  and  for  this  one  good  deed, 
let  all  her  evil  ones  be  forgiven.  She  sleeps  between  her  two 
husbands  at  the  bottom  of  the  Lawn,  in  a  very  decent  snug 
quarter.  Mr  Rutherfurd  will  be  obliged  to  go  up  the  country 
soon;  so  I  will  remain  sometime  here  with  my  sweet  friend 
whose  good  fortune  affects  me  more  than  it  does  herself,  on 
whom  it  has  wrought  no  change.  All  the  country  has  been  to 
visit  her,  and  they  all  pretend  to  be  pleased ;  but  as  many  had 
form'd  hopes,  you  may  easily  believe  they  are  not  all  sincere. 
She  is  busy  inventoring  her  new  effects,  which  in  furniture, 
plate,  linen,  jewels  and  cloths,  are  very  considerable.  The 
house  is  very  handsome  and  quite  on  a  British  plan.  The 
place  is  a  peninsula  that  runs  into  the  river  and  is  justly 
called  Point  Pleasant.*  It  stands  on  a  fine  lawn,  with  the 
noblest  scattered  trees  in  the  world  thro'  it.  But  here  is  more 
company,  and  I  must  lay  down  my  pen.  Adieu,  Adieu. 

Mr  Rutherfurd  and  my  brother  set  out  for  Newbern  some 
days  ago.  Mr  Rutherfurd  is  an  active  member  of  the  Assem- 
bly [that  is,  of  the  Council ],f  and  has  gone  to  do  his  duty, 
tho'  he  expects  much  trouble,  which  has  prevented  most  of 
the  others  from  venturing  up  at  this  time,  as  they  hear  from 

*  "Point  Pleasant"  was  the  plantation  of  Colonel  James  Innes  and  was 
situated  on  the  Northeast,  on  the  south  side,  at  the  bend  of  the  river.  The 
location  is  shown  on  Wimble's  map  of  1738  and  was,  as  Miss  Schaw  says, 
on  a  peninsula  jutting  northward  into  the  stream.  Mrs.  Corbin  had  only  a 
life  interest  in  this  plantation,  which  at  her  death  was  to  go  to  support  a  free 
school  at  Wilmington.  What  she  left  to  the  children  was  as  much  of  the 
Innes  property — lands,  personal  possessions,  and  negroes — as  was  hers  to 
dispose  of  according  to  the  terms  of  her  marriage  settlement  with  Francis 
Corbin  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  E,  89-94).  These  together  with  certain 
annuities  due  her  under  that  settlement  were  to  be  cared  for  by  "her  good 
friend"  John  Rutherfurd  for  the  maintenance  and  education  of  Fanny  and 
the  boys.  The  dwelling  house  and  other  buildings  on  the  "Point  Pleasant" 
plantation  were  destroyed  by  fire  shortly  before  the  year  1783  (North  Caro- 
lina State  Records,  XXIV,  512). 

f  Rutherfurd  was  a  member  of  the  council,  not  of  the  assembly  proper. 
The  session  opened  on  April  4,  the  council  meeting  for  the  first  time  on 
April  6.  Rutherfurd  was  present. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          173 

undoubted  authority  that  the  provincial  congress  is  also  to 
meet  at  the  same  time  without  any  regard  to  the  presence  of 
the  Govr  or  members  of  the  Assembly.  This  is  also  the  time 
when  Mr  Rutherfurd  should  receive  and  settle  the  quit-rents, 
as  he  is  a  receiver-general  of  the  province,  and  every  year 
should  settle  the  Accte  and  have  them  signed  by  the  Govr.* 
This  he  has  reason  to  believe  cannot  be  done,  yet  is  still 
resolved  to  perform  his  duty  to  the  last.  My  brother  attends 
the  Govr,  by  his  orders,  as  he  wishes  to  have  as  many  friends 
to  the  Government  near  him,  as  he  can  assemble.  His  situa- 
tion is  every  way  to  be  pitied.  He  is  a  man  of  spirit  as  well  as 
a  loyal  subject,  and  will  ill  brook  having  an  unlawful  con- 
vocationf  sitting  openly  in  the  same  town,  controverting 
every  Act  that  he  and  the  lawful  assembly  propose,  yet  he 
must  submit,  as  he  has  no  power  to  do  otherwise,  and  an 
attempt  to  support  his  own  and  the  authority  of  the  assembly 
might  be  attended  with  many  bad  consequences,  and  could 
render  the  King  no  sort  of  service.  I  am  vastly  anxious  and 
will  be  most  uneasy  till  they  return.  Good  Heavens !  what 
had  we  to  do  here. 

The  weather  now  begins  to  be  very  warm,  and  tho'  the 
thermometer  never  rises  to  the  same  height  as  in  the  West 
Indies,  yet  the  want  of  air  makes  it  quite  intolerable.  The 

*  For  Rutherfurd's  connection  with  the  quit-rents,  see  Bond,  The  Quit- 
Rent  System  in  the  American  Colonies,  pp.  305-308;  and  for  a  brief  biog- 
raphy and  estimate,  Appendix  VIII.  Martin  wrote,  July  29,  1774,  to  the 
Treasury,  that  he  was  convinced  a  much  larger  collection  of  this  revenue 
could  be  made  by  a  proper  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  receiver-general,  and 
said  that  the  deficiency  in  the  fund  was  due  largely  to  Rutherfurd's  neglect. 
He  said  further  that  he  had  done  all  in  his  power  to  urge  on  that  official  and 
had  in  fact  prevented  formal  complaint  of  his  conduct  from  being  laid  before 
the  board,  not  wishing  to  take  advantage  of  his  "extreme  good  nature"  and 
"distressed  circumstance"  (Public  Record  Office,  Treasury  i :  505,  fo.  317). 

f  The  "unlawful  convocation,"  mentioned  by  Miss  Schaw,  was  of  course 
the  Provincial  Convention  at  New  Bern,  April  3,  1775.  This  convention 
consisted  of  the  members  of  the  assembly  sitting  as  a  convention,  without 
authorization  from  the  governor,  and  so  without  sanction  of  law.  The  same 
men,  in  the  same  quarters,  sat  the  next  day  as  a  lawful  assembly.  See  below, 
page  181. 


174     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

evenings  however  are  very  fine,  and  we  go  out  in  Mr  Ruther- 
furd's  phaeton  thro'  the  adjoining  woods,  and  tho'  the  light- 
ning flashes  round  us  in  these  airings,  yet  it  is  a  lambent 
flame,  that  we  know  will  not  hurt  us.  It  is  only  the  red  light- 
ning which  sets  the  trees  on  fire,  which  is  not  so  frequent,  and 
is  always  attended  by  loud  explosions  and  heavy  rains.  But 
the  lightning  I  speak  of  is  a  blue  flame,  resembling  that  of 
spirits  on  fire,  and  is  so  common  that  no  body  pays  the  least 
attention  to  it.  But  the  other  is  more  dreadful  than  any 
thing  I  ever  saw  at  home;  it  sets  whole  woods  on  fire  and 
shatters  the  largest  trees  from  top  to  bottom,  and  is  followed 
by  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain,  that  of  itself  is  terrible.  But  this 
is  a  necessary  evil,  and  makes  that  circulation,  which  alone 
can  purify  the  putrid  air  that  rises  from  bogs  and  swamps. 
The  fruits  are  now  ripe,*  and  I  find  the  truth  of  my  old 
friend's  observation.  I  have  never  yet  seen  a  peach,  that 
either  from  colour  or  flavour  was  superior  to  those  we  have  at 
home.  As  to  the  Nectarine  or  Apricock  I  have  seen  none,  nor 
any  plumb,  a  small  red  one  excepted,  such  as  we  find  grow- 
ing red  and  yellow  thro'  our  hedges,  but  which  the  fine  cli- 
mate makes  better-tasted.  The  water-melon,  of  which  they 
are  so  fond,  I  do  not  like,  but  perhaps  that  may  be  owing  to 
my  taste,  not  yet  being  accustomed  to  them.  I  have  seen  but 
few  vegetables,  and  those  very  poor  of  their  kinds.  This  too 
is  their  own  fault,  for  the  fine  light  soil  is  intirely  fitted  for 
them,  and  roots  of  all  kinds  would  be  excellent  here,  but 
their  indolence  makes  them  prefer  what  herbs  they  find  grow- 
ing wild  to  those  that  require  the  least  attention  to  propa- 
gate, and  one  is  really  grieved  to  see  so  many  rare  advantages 
,'  bestowed  on  a  people  every  way  so  unworthy  of  them.  I  do 
assure  you  that  every  gift  of  nature  is  here.  Not  Italia,  Spain 

*  This  section  is  misplaced.  Fruits  were  not  ripe  at  this  time.  Miss  Schaw 
could  hardly  have  tested  a  watermelon  between  February  and  May,  and 
certainly  could  not  have  found  "grapes  dangling  over  our  heads  in  large 
bunches"  before  August  or  September. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          175 

or  Portugal  produce  an  Article  that  might  not  be  had  in 
higher  perfection,  wine  and  oil  not  excepted.  Finer  grapes 
cannot  be  met  with  than  are  to  be  found  every  where  wild, 
more  particularly  on  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  up  all  the 
creeks,  a  proof  of  which  I  had  a  few  days  ago.  On  a  sail  we 
took  up  a  creek,  we  found  the  grapes  dangling  over  our  heads 
in  large  bunches,  particularly  a  red  grape,  whose  berries  are 
very  large.  The  Negroes  landed  and  filled  the  boat  and  we 
had  them  bruised  and  set  to  ferment,  and  this  day  we  tasted 
the  wine,  which  is  already  excellent,  and  in  time  will  be  as 
good  as  any  of  the  common  Portuguese  wines,  and  yet  the 
vines  are  perfectly  uncultivated.  How  much  better  would  it 
be,  if  any  care  were  taken  of  them.  There  is  a  great  variety 
of  white  as  well  as  red,  but  they  do  not  even  make  tarts  of 
them.  What  they  use  for  that  is  a  huckle  berry,  which  has  a 
faint  resemblance  to  our  black  or  blue  berry,  but  not  equal  to 
the  crane  berry. 

The  congress  has  forbid  killing  Mutton,  veal  or  lamb,*  so 
that  little  variety  is  to  be  had  from  the  domestick  animals; 
but  indulgent  nature  makes  up  for  every  want,  by  the  vast 
quantities  of  wild  birds,  both  of  land  and  water.  The  wild 
Turkeys,  the  wild  pigeon,  a  bird  which  they  call  a  partridge, 
but  above  all  the  rice-bird,  which  is  the  Ortalon  in  its  highest 
perfection,  and  from  the  water  the  finest  ducks  that  possibly 
can  be  met  with,  and  so  plenty  that  when  on  wing  sixteen  or 
eighteen  are  killed  at  a  shot.  The  beauty  of  the  Summer-duck 
makes  its  death  almost  a  murder.  The  deer  now  is  large,  but 
not  so  fat  as  it  will  be  some  time  hence ;  it  is  however  in  great 
plenty,  and  makes  good  soup.  The  rivers  are  full  of  fine  fish, 
and  luxury  itself  cannot  ask  a  boon  that  is  not  granted.  Do 
not  however  suppose  by  this  that  you  meet  elegant  tables, 

*The  Continental  Association  of  1774  contained  a  clause  (VII)  binding 
the  colonists  not  to  export  or  kill  sheep  "especially  those  of  the  most  profit- 
able kind."  It  is  likely  that  Rutherfurd  accepted  the  terms,  but  equally  prob- 
able that  he  did  not  adhere  to  them  very  strictly. 


176     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

far  from  it ;  this  profusion  is  in  general  neglected.  The  gen- 
tlemen indeed  out  of  idleness  shoot  deer,  but  nothing  under 
a  wild  turkey  is  worth  a  shot.  As  they  are  now  on  the  eve  of  a 
War,  or  something  else  I  dare  not  name,  perhaps  they  save 
their  powder  for  good  reasons ;  but  at  Mr  Rutherfurd's  there 
is  a  huntsman,  with  as  many  assistants  as  he  pleases,*  and 
every  day  provisions  are  brought  home  of  those  Articles  I 
have  mentioned.  Besides  as  he  pays  no  great  regard  to  the 
orders  of  the  congress,  he  wants  neither  mutton  [n]or  lamb 
in  their  turn. 

They  have  the  true  vulture  here,  with  the  bald  head, 
which  they  call  Turkey  buzard,  as  he  is  little  less  than  a  tur- 
key, f  The  bears  are  exceeding  troublesome  and  often  carry 
off  the  hogs.  I  have  got  a  whelp,  which  was  only  a  day  old 
when  its  dam  was  killed.  Miss  Rutherfurd  is  fond  of  it,  but 
tho'  only  a  fortnight  old,  it  is  too  much  for  her  already.  We 
have  also  a  fawn,  which  is  much  more  beautiful  than  any 
I  ever  saw  at  home  and  tame  as  a  dog.  The  Negroes  are  the 
only  people  that  seem  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  various 
uses  that  the  wild  vegetables  may  be  put  to.  For  example, 
I  have  sent  you  a  paper  of  their  vegetable  pins  made  from  the 
prickly  pear,  also  molds  for  buttons  made  from  the  calabash, 
which  likewise  serves  to  hold  their  victuals.  The  allowance 

*  The  huntsman  and  assistants  were  probably  negroes.  Both  in  North 
Carolina  and  South  Carolina  it  was  necessary  for  a  negro  to  have  a  license  or 
ticket  to  carry  a  gun.  Therefore  it  was  common  for  their  masters  to  enter 
the  names  of  such  negroes  as  they  wished  to  be  licensed  on  the  records  of 
the  county  court  and  to  offer  security  according  to  law.  For  instance,  as 
early  as  1740,  Edward  Moseley  entered  as  "hunters  on  his  sundry  planta- 
tions" the  names  of  four  negroes.  In  1764  Thomas  Halloway  "prayed  for  a 
ticket  for  a  negro  man  named  Burgaw  Billy  to  carry  a  gun  at  Burgaw  Planta- 
tion," and  John  Rutherfurd  did  the  same  for  a  negro  named  Mingo  at 
Rocky  Point,  with  his  friend  Benjamin  Heron  as  security.  After  Rutherfurd 
acquired  "Hunthill"  he  must  have  obtained  a  number  of  such  licenses  for 
his  negroes. 

t  The  turkey  buzzard  is  one  of  the  varieties  of  the  American  vulture, 
differing  structurally  from  the  vultures  of  the  Old  World.  It  is  not  con- 
sidered, however,  a  true  vulture  any  more  than  are  those  of  Europe.  Never- 
theless Miss  Schaw  was  well  up  in  her  ornithology. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          177 

for  a  Negro  is  a  quart  of  Indian  corn  pr  day,;Jf  and  a  little 
piece  of  land  which  they  cultivate  much  better  than  their 
Master.  There  they  rear  hogs  and  poultry,  sow  calabashes, 
etc.  and  are  better  provided  for  in  every  thing  than  the 
poorer  white  people  with  us.  They  steal  whatever  they  can 
come  at,  and  even  intercept  the  cows  and  milk  them.  They 
are  indeed  the  constant  pi  ague  of  their  tyrants,  whose  severity 
or  mildness  is  equally  regarded  by  them  in  these  Matters. 

Wilmingtown. 

We  came  to  town  yesterday  by  water,  and  tho'  it  was 
excessively  warm  had  a  pleasant  sail.  Mr  Rutherfurd  has  a 
very  fine  boat  with  an  awning  to  prevent  the  heat,  and  six 
stout  Negroes  in  neat  uniforms  to  row  her  down,  which  with 
the  assistance  of  the  tide  was  performed  with  ease  in  a  very- 
short  time.  The  banks  of  the  North  east  are  higher  than 
those  of  the  North  west,  but  produce  the  same  trees,  flowers 
and  shrubs.  There  are  two  plantations  on  the  banks,  both  of 
which  have  the  most  delightful  situations  that  it  is  possible 
to  imagine,  one  of  them  in  particular  has  a  walk  of  above  a 
mile  long  just  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  which  nature  has 
formed  with  the  most  beautiful  exactness,  and  left  nothing 
for  Art  but  that  of  cleaning  away  the  luxuriancy,  which 
generally  attends  her  works.  This  however  is  too  much  for 
the  listless  hands  of  indolence  and  this  beautiful  place  is 
overgrown  with  brambles  and  prickly  pears,  which  render 
it  entirely  useless,  tho'  a  few  Negroes  with  their  hoes  could 
clear  it  in  a  week.  The  master  of  this  fine  place  is  rich  and 
uncumbered  by  a  family.  Something  like  a  glimmering  of 
taste  inspired  him  about  a  dozen  years  ago  to  build  a  house 
on  a  good  plan  and  near  this  a  fine  walk,  and  a  most  delight- 
ful situation  it  must  have  been.  The  outside  was  accordingly 
finished,  and  even  a  part  of  the  windows  put  in,  when  the 

$  An  infant  has  the  same  allowance  with  its  parents  as  soon  as  born. 


178     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

hot  months,  I  suppose,  destroyed  this  temporary  Activity, 
which  has  never  yet  returned,  and  he  and  his  wife  live  in  a 
hovel,  while  this  handsome  fabrick  is  daily  falling  into  decay 
and  will  soon  cease  to  exist  at  all. 

In  a  few  miles  farther  and  very  near  the  town,  I  found 
another*  and  must  confess  that  in  all  my  life  I  never  saw  a 
more  glorious  situation.  It  fronts  the  conflux  of  the  north 
east  and  north  west,  which  forms  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of 
water  in  the  world.  On  this  there  is  a  very  handsome  house, 
and  properly  situated  to  enjoy  every  advantage.  But  the 
house  is  all,  for  I  saw  nothing  neat  done  about  it;  tho'  Na- 
ture has  blocked  out  a  fine  lawn  for  them;  down  to  the  river 
it  is  overrun  with  weeds  and  briers.  They  tell  me  however 
that  the  Mrs  of  this  placef  is  a  pattern  of  industry,  and  that 
the  house  and  every  thing  in  it  was  the  produce  of  her 
labours.  She  has  (it  seems)  a  garden,  from  which  she  sup- 
plies the  town  with  what  vegetables  they  use,  also  with 

*  The  first  of  the  two  plantations  to  which  Miss  Schaw  refers  we  have 
not  been  able  to  identify,  but  the  second  was  "Hilton,"  the  home  of  Cor- 
nelius Harnett,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  movement  in  North 
Carolina.  It  was  situated  but  a  short  distance  north  of  Wilmington.  It  was  at 
"Hilton"  that  Josiah  Quincy  held  conferences  with  Howe  and  Harnett  in 
1773,  where  "the  plan  of  Continental  correspondence  [was]  highly  relished, 
much  wished  for,  and  resolved  upon  as  proper  to  be  pursued."  For  a 
description,  see  North  Carolina  Booklet,  II,  no.  9,  p.  71,  and  Connor,  Cor- 
nelius Harnett,  pp.  201-202. 

f  The  maiden  name  of  Mary,  wife  of  Cornelius  Harnett,  is  unknown.  Her 
identification  as  a  Grainger  is  wrong.  She  lived  at  "Hilton"  but  died  in  New 
York  City,  April  19,  1792.  Her  will  is  still  preserved  (Wills,  AB,  486-488). 
Miss  Schaw's  later  comment  on  Harnett  as  a  "brute"  may  have  only  a 
political  significance,  but  more  probably  it  refers  to  his  personality.  If  so 
the  remark  is  not  surprising,  for  despite  Harnett's  great  services  to  the  cause 
of  the  Revolution,  he  was  not  a  man  of  either  delicacy  or  refinement.  The 
fact  that  he  had  an  illegitimate  child  must  be  judged  according  to  the  moral 
standards  of  that  day :  Robert  Halton,  Francis  Nash,  and  Matthew  Rowan 
each  had  the  same,  and  no  one  seems  to  have  thought  less  of  them  on  that 
account.  But  both  Harnett  and  Howe  were  men  of  a  fibre  less  fine  and  sensi- 
tive than  that  of  James  Moore,  for  example,  and  Miss  Schaw  was  easily 
impressed  by  such  distinctions.  George  Hooper's  characterization  of  Harnett, 
drawn  up  many  years  later,  though  the  tribute  of  one  with  loyalist  antece- 
dents and  a  Bostonian,  is  almost  too  flattering  an  estimate  to  be  convincing. 
Certainly  in  Miss  Schaw's  day  Harnett  was  not  "beloved  and  honored  by  the 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          179 

mellons  and  other  fruits.  She  even  descends  to  make  minced 
pies,  cheese-cakes,  tarts  and  little  biskets,  which  she  sends 
down  to  town  once  or  twice  a  day,  besides  her  eggs,  poultry 
and  butter,  and  she  is  the  only  one  who  continues  to  have 
Milk.  They  tell  me  she  is  an  agreeable  woman,  and  I  am 
sure  she  has  good  sense,  from  one  circumstance, — all  her 
little  commodities  are  contrived  so,  as  not  to  exceed  one 
penny  a  piece,  and  her  customers  know  she  will  not  run 
tick,*  which  were  they  to  be  the  length  of  sixpence,  must  be 
the  case,  as  that  is  a  sum  not  in  every  body's  power,  and  she 
must  be  paid  by  some  other  articles,  whereas  the  two  coppers 
[that  is,  halfpence]  are  ready  money.  I  am  sure  I  would  be 
happy  in  such  an  acquaintance.  But  this  is  impossible;  her 
husband  is  at  best  a  brute  by  all  accounts  and  is  besides  the 
president  of  the  committee  and  the  great  instigator  of  the 
cruel  and  unjust  treatment  the  friends  of  government  are 
experiencing  at  present.  There  are  a  few  plantations  forming 
near  town,  but  so  much  in  their  infancy,  that  I  can  say  little 
of  them. 

I  rose  this  morning  with  a  violent  headache.  The  Musque- 
toes,  tho'  not  yet  so  troublesome  as  at  Point  Pleasant,  are 
swarming  in  town,  which  stands  on  a  sandy  soil,  and  is  ren- 
dered from  that  situation  intolerably  hot.  What  they  do  in 
the  low  parts  of  the  town,  heaven  knows.  We  are  just  now  at 

adherents  of  monarchy,"  as  Hooper  says  (Connor,  Cornelius  Harriett,  pp. 
202-203). 

Miss  Schaw  formed  sudden  likes  and  dislikes  and  acknowledges  herself 
as  prejudiced.  This  is  shown  in  the  case  of  the  emigrants  and  of  Neilson, 
both  of  whom,  as  she  found,  improved  on  acquaintance.  Perhaps  the  same 
might  have  been  true  in  the  case  of  Harnett,  Howe,  and  other  American 
radicals,  had  she  known  them  longer  and  under  different  circumstances. 

*  To  "run  tick"  was,  and  still  is,  to  give  credit.  Mrs.  Harnett's  practice 
was  unusual,  for  charge  accounts  or  book  debts  were  very  common  in  colonial 
days,  when  small  change  was  difficult  to  obtain.  Inasmuch  as  Mrs.  Harnett 
was  able  to  enforce  her  rule,  coppers  must  have  been  more  plentiful  in  1775 
than  they  were  under  Dobbs  or  Tryon.  The  former  in  1755  wanted  the  Brit- 
ish government  to  issue  a  copper  coinage  for  North  Carolina  (N.  C.  R.  V, 
155,  324-325),  and  the  latter  in  1764  suggested  that  North  Carolina's  share  of 
the  parliamentary  appropriation  be  sent  over  either  "in  the  copper  coin  of 


180     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  house  of  Doctor  Cobham  which  is  the  best  house  and 
much  the  airiest  situation,  yet  it  is  hardly  possible  to  breathe, 
and  both  Miss  Rutherfurd  and  myself  appear  as  in  the 
height  of  the  small-pox ;  but  terrible  as  this  is,  I  will  stay  till 
I  learn  something  of  what  is  going  on  both  here  and  at  New- 
bern.Jf  I  have  sent  to  Mr  Hogg  and  Mr  Campbell,  both 
Merchte  of  eminence;*  from  them  I  will  hear  truth  not 
always  to  be  met  every  where.  My  friends  have  been  with 
me,  by  them  I  learn  things  are  going  on  with  a  high  hand.  A 
boat  of  provisions  going  to  the  king's  ship  has  been  stopped, 
and  Mr  Hogg  and  Mr  Campbell,  the  contractors,  ordered  to 
send  no  more.  Good  God!  what  are  the  people  at  home 
about,  to  suffer  their  friends  to  be  thus  abused.  Two  regi- 
ments just  now  would  reduce  this  province,  but  think  what 
you  will,  in  a  little  time,  four  times  four  will  not  be  suffi- 
cient. Every  man  is  ordered  to  appear  under  arms.  This  the 
town's  folks  have  been  forced  to  comply  with,  tho'  deter- 
mined to  go  no  further  in  a  cause  they  so  much  disapprove. 
Melancholy  clouds  every  honest  face,  while  ferocity  and 
insolence  blaze  in  those  of  their  enemies.  Heaven  grant  them 
deliverance,  for  much  they  are  to  be  pitied.  Miss  Rutherfurd 
and  I  intended  going  up  the  North  West  to  Schawfield,  but 
have  changed  our  design,  as  we  find  the  boys  very  unhappy 
at  the  house  where  they  are  boarded.  Jack  naturally  despises 
a  Schoolmaster, f  who  knows  not  half  what  he  does  himself, 

8  Newbern  town  where  the  Congress  meets. 

Britain  or  in  such  coin  as  his  Majesty  may  be  pleased  to  order  to  be  coined 
in  the  Tower  of  London"  (tb.t  VI,  1219-1220). 

*  The  firm  of  Hogg  &  Campbell  was  one  of  the  leading  mercantile  and 
contracting  houses  in  Wilmington,  doing  both  a  wholesale  and  a  retail  busi- 
ness. In  the  Cape  Fear  Mercury,  December  29,  1773,  we  read,  "For  London, 
the  ship  Good  Intent  will  be  ready  to  sail ;  part  freight  secured,  for  remain- 
der apply  to  Hogg  and  Campbell."  The  firm  was  composed  of  Robert  Hogg 
and  Samuel  Campbell,  prominent  men  of  known  loyalist  sympathies.  That  is 
why  Miss  Schaw  felt  that  she  could  turn  to  them  for  such  information  and 
advice  as  she  was  not  likely  to  obtain  elsewhere.  For  biographical  data  con- 
cerning these  men,  see  Appendix  XII. 

f  On  the  arrival  of  Miss  Schaw  in  the  province,  the  boys  were  probably 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          181 

so  we  carry  them  up  to  Point  Pleasant  and  return  next  Mon- 
day to  see  the  review  of  all  the  troops  raised  in  this  province. 
I  will  leave  this  letter  to  be  sent,  tho'  I  risk  tar  and  feather 
was  it  to  be  seen.  Perhaps  it  may  be  the  last  I  will  ever  write 
you  at  least  from  this  part  of  the  world. 

Point  Pleasant. 

The  evening  I  came  back  here,  my  brother  arrived  from 
Newbern,  having  left  Mr  Rutherfurd  at  his  plantation  thirty 
miles  from  this.  He  had  with  him  a  young  man*  of  so  agree- 
able an  appearance,  that  tho'  I  believed  him  an  American,  I 
could  not  help  owning  he  had  the  look  of  a  Gentleman,  yet 
I  was  pre-determined  not  to  be  pleased  with  him.  His  wan 
meagre  looks  disgusted  me,  his  white  hands  gave  me  great 
offence,  as  I  could  not  help  thinking  he  displayed  them 
ostentatiously.  His  gravity,  for  he  was  vastly  grave,  fright- 
ened me,  yet  after  all,  the  creature  was  tame  and  genteel 
enough,  made  a  bow,  as  if  he  had  once  known  what  it  was  to 
enter  a  decent  apartment,  spoke  with  a  voice  that  seemed 
humanized  and  entered  into  conversation  very  much  like  a 
rational  being. 

I  now  learned  what  had  passed  at  Newbern  meeting, 
where  both  the  Govr.  and  assembly  had  been  treated  with 
great  insolence,  and  those  friends  that  dared  own  their  prin- 
ciples had  been  abused  in  a  most  shocking  manner,  f  and  that 

sent  with  Mrs.  Miller  to  "Schawfield,"  where  they  remained  about  two 
months.  They  were  then  put  to  board  with  a  schoolmaster  in  Wilmington, 
where  they  were  so  unhappy  that  Miss  Schaw  took  them  away  and  carried 
them  off  to  "Point  Pleasant."  Very  likely  they  remained  there  until  the  final 
departure  from  North  Carolina. 

*  This  was  Archibald  Neilson,  who  arrived  at  "Point  Pleasant"  about 
June  i  and  remained  there,  off  and  on,  until  August  25.  See  Appendix  XIII. 

f  The  situation  at  New  Bern  was  unique  and  we  may  not  wonder  that  it 
aroused  Miss  Schaw  to  wrathful  comment.  Mr.  Connor,  in  his  Cornelius 
Harriett  (pp.  83-84),  has  described  the  circumstances  as  follows.  "It  was, 
indeed,  a  pretty  situation.  One  set  of  men  composed  two  assemblies,  one 
legal,  sitting  by  authority  of  the  royal  governor  and  in  obedience  to  his 


182     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  provincial  congress  had  come  to  a  resolution  and  had  it 
signed  by  its  whole  members  to  unite  with  and  obey  the 
grand  continental  congress  in  all  their  resolutions.  I  send  you 
inclosed  a  copy  of  Govr  Martin's  speech,  the  protests  taken 
by  some  of  the  members  of  the  assembly,  and  also  a  paper 
wrote  by  a  Mr  McNight,*  for  which  he  has  been  obliged  to 
fly  the  province  of  Carolina.  Our  Stranger  Gentleman  turns 
out  a  man  of  family  in  Scotland  and  of  rank  here,  from  the 
office  he  holds  under  the  crown;  and  as  I  view  him  now 
divested  of  prejudice,  he  makes  quite  a  different  figure  from 
what  he  did;  sorry  I  am  to  say  however  that  his  wan  looks 
continue,  and  I  fear  will  while  he  is  in  this  climate,  as  he  is 
under  the  power  of  an  Ague,  whose  fits  shake  him  to  pieces. 
He  is  certainly  not  vain  of  his  hands  however  white,  and  as 
far  as  I  can  observe  is  neither  a  savage  nor  a  coxcomb.  He  is 
really  an  agreeable  young  man,  has  seen  the  world  and  knows 
a  great  deal.  If  he  does  not  go  up  the  country  again,  he  will 
prove  an  agreeable  accession  to  our  little  party.f 

We  have  a  most  obliging  invitation  from  the  Govr  and 
Mrs  Martin,  to  go  up  and  stay  with  them  and  celebrate  the 
king's  birth-day,  which  is  not  now  far  off,  and  this  we  will 
not  fail  to  do.  The  heat  daily  increases,  as  do  the  Musque- 
toes,  the  bugs  and  the  ticks.  The  curtains  of  our  beds  are  now 
supplied  by  Musquetoes'  nets.  Fanny  has  got  a  neat  or  rather 
elegant  dressing  room,  the  settees  of  which  are  canopied  over 
with  green  gauze,  and  on  these  we  lie  panting  for  breath  and 

writ ;  the  other  illegal,  sitting  in  defiance  of  his  authority  and  in  disobedience 
to  his  proclamation.  The  governor  impotently  called  on  the  former  to  join 
him  in  dispersing  the  latter.  The  two  assemblies  met  in  the  same  hall  and 
were  presided  over  by  the  same  man.  'When  the  governor's  private  secretary 
was  announced  at  the  door,  in  an  instant,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  Mr. 
Moderator  Harvey  would  become  Mr.  Speaker  Harvey  and  gravely  receive 
his  Excellency's  message.' " 

*  For  the  case  of  Thomas  Macknight,  Loyalist  through  circumstance  and 
against  his  will,  see  Appendix  XII. 

f  Archibald  Neilson  plays  an  important  part  in  Miss  Schaw's  narrative 
from  this  time  on. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          183 

air,  dressed  in  a  single  muslin  petticoat  and  short  gown. 
Here  I  know  your  delicacy  will  be  shocked,  and  I  hear  you 
ask,  if  our  young  man  bear  us  company  in  this  sequestrate 
apartment.  Oh  yes,  my  friend,  he  does,  but  he  is  too  much 
oppressed  himself  to  observe  us.  This  serock  [sirocco]  has 
the  same  effect  here  as  Briden*  tells  us  it  has  in  Sicily ;  it  has 
ruined  all  vivacity,  as  my  pen  shows  you,  and  renders  us 
languid  in  thought,  word  and  deed. 

My  Journal  now  meets  many  interruptions,  and  all  I  can 
do,  is,  to  take  notes  and  join  them  as  I  have  opportunity.  Mr 
Neilson,  our  new  friend,  is  gone  up  the  country  again  and  we 
are  to  follow  in  a  few  days,  and  pass  some  time  at  Newbern. 
I  find  [feel]  the  loss  of  his  company:  he  is  that  sort  of  man, 
who  is  of  all  others  the  fittest  companion  for  us  at  present. 
He  has  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world;  his  manners,  naturally 
soft,  give  him  a  sort  of  Melancholy,  that  is  far  from  displeas- 
ing any  where,  but  here  is  particularly  agreeable.  I  am  told 
he  is  in  love,f  and  I  make  no  doubt  that  is  true.  I  should  be 
glad  to  be  acquainted  with  the  Lady,  for  from  what  I  am 
able  to  discover  of  his  sentiments  she  must  have  something 
more  than  mere  beauty  to  recommend  her  to  his  regard,  dif- 

*  Patrick  Brydone,  A  Tour  Through  Sicily  and  Malta,  in  a  series  of 
Letters  to  William  Beckford,  Esq.  Two  volumes,  London,  1773.  The  account 
of  the  "Sirocc"  or  Southeast  Wind  is  in  II,  104. 

f  Writing  from  her  plantation  "Chinese  Temple,"  August  25,  1775,  Mrs. 
DeRosset  says:  "It  is  thought  Mr.  Nelson's  suit  at  Point  Pleasant  will  end 
in  matrimony — by  his  frequent  stay  there.  For  as  Bevil  (in  Conscious  Lover) 
says — 'A  denial  is  a  favor  every  man  may  pretend  to,  and  if  a  Lady  would  do 
honor  to  herself,  she  should  never  keep  a  gentlemen  in  suspense,  if  she  knows 
she  can't  like  him.' 

"As  Miss  [Rutherfurd]  appears  to  be  a  sweet,  innocent  young  creature,  I 
think  she  won't  seem  to  encourage  what  she  disapproves,  and  she  is  too  sensi- 
ble to  trifle  away  his  time  without  approbation.  In  general  people  in  love 
look  mighty  silly,  but  I  do  assure  you  Mr.  Nelson  is  more  chatty  and  agree- 
able than  ever — even  before  his  mistress.  I  should  not  wonder  if  Fanny  loved 
him.  Do  you  remember  how  you  looked  when  you  were  in  love1?  Nay,  do 
not  give  such  a  sigh,  or  I  will  never  speak  to  you  again  of  the  Ladies  of 
Cedar  Grove  [the  DeRosset  plantation] :  They  are  all  well — as  much  yours 
as  ever,  even  little  Fanny"  {James  Sprunt  Historical  Monographs,  no.  4, 
P-  23). 


184     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

ferent  from  the  men  of  this  country;  I  should  hope  she  will 
be  satisfied  with  the  lot  assigned  her.  But,  good  heaven! 
think  of  my  talking  in  that  way  of  a  poor  fellow  that  is 
chaced  from  place  to  place,  and  uncertain  of  his  life.  In  the 
present  situation,  love  does  not  admit  of  the  various  cares 
that  press  him;  friendship  however  may  be  a  consolation  to 
him,  and  as  he  appears  worthy,  I  dare  say  you  will  approve 
of  my  affording  him  as  much  esteem  as  is  fit  for  me  to  bestow, 
or  as  he  will  ever  desire  of  me. 

I  have  been  at  a  fine  plantation  called  Hunthill  belonging 
to  Mr  Rutherfurd.*  On  this  he  has  a  vast  number  of  Negroes 
employed  in  various  works.  He  makes  a  great  deal  of  tar  and 
turpentine,  but  his  grand  work  is  a  saw-mill,  the  finest  I  ever 
met  with.  It  cuts  three  thousand  lumbers  (which  are  our 
dales  [deals] )  a  day,  and  can  double  the  number,  when 
necessity  demands  it.  The  woods  round  him  are  immense, 
and  he  has  a  vast  piece  of  water,  which  by  a  creek  communi- 
cates with  the  river,  by  which  he  sends  down  all  the  lumber, 
tar  and  pitch,  as  it  rises  every  tide  sufficiently  high  to  bear 

*  John  Rutherfurd  had  a  plantation  "Rowland"  at  Rocky  Point,  which 
he  held  until  the  sale  of  his  properties  in  1772.  Sometime  before  Miss  Schaw's 
arrival  he  acquired  in  trust  for  his  children  a  large  group  of  nine  tracts, 
4084  acres,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Northeast,  between  Holly  Shelter  Creek 
and  New  Exeter,  thirty  miles  from  Wilmington  and  ten  from  Rocky  Point. 
Four  of  the  pieces  bore  distinctive  names,  "Stony  Brook,"  "Bear  Garden," 
"Price's  Neck,"  and  "Arthur's  Neck."  North  of  the  plantation  was  Holly 
Shelter  "pocosin,"  a  term  that  Brickell  defines  as  signifying  wet  and  low 
lands  "where  large  cypress  trees  grow."  We  even  find  the  phrase  "pocosin 
swamp."  This  pocosin  may  be  the  "vast  piece  of  water"  referred  to  by  Miss 
Schaw. 

Rutherfurd's  fondness  for  his  Scottish  connections  appears  in  the  names 
which  he  gave  to  his  plantations.  The  first  he  called  "Rowland,"  after  his 
father's  estate  in  Scotland,  which  had  some  years  before  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Pringles;  and  the  other  "Hunthill,"  the  name  of  the  estate  of 
his  Scottish  relative,  Henry  Rutherfurd,  which  lay  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Jed,  extending  north  to  the  neighborhood  of  Jedburgh.  His  New  York 
cousin,  Walter  Rutherfurd,  showed  the  same  liking,  for  he  named  his  sum- 
mer home  in  New  Jersey  near  Boiling  Spring  (now  Rutherford)  after  the 
family  estate  in  Scotland,  "Edgerston  Manor"  (Supplementary  Notes  to 
Rutherfurds  of  that  Ilk  and  their  Cadets,  printed  but  not  published,  pp. 
26-36). 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          185 

any  weight.  This  is  done  on  what  is  called  rafts,  built  upon  a 
flat  with  dales,  and  the  barrels  depending  from  the  sides.* 
In  this  manner  they  will  float  you  down  fifty  thousand  deals 
at  once,  and  100  or  200  barrels,  and  they  leave  room  in  the 
centre  for  the  people  to  stay  on,  who  have  nothing  to  do  but 
prevent  its  running  on  shore,  as  it  is  floated  down  by  the 
tides,  and  they  must  lay  to,  between  tide  and  tide,  it  having 
no  power  to  move  but  by  the  force  of  the  stream.  This 
appears  to  me  the  best  contrived  thing  I  have  seen,  nor  do  I 
think  any  better  method  could  be  fallen  on;  and  this  is 
adopted  by  all  the  people  up  the  country. 

There  is  a  show  of  plenty  at  Hunthill  beyond  any  thing 
I  ever  saw,  but  it  is  a  mere  plantation.  He  has  not  so  much 
as  a  house  on  it,  yet  he  has  a  fine  situation  for  one  which  he 
proposes  to  build.  Here  the  old  Gentleman  I  formerly  men- 
tioned resides  with  him,  and  I  assure  you  they  keep  a  good 
house,  tho'  it  is  little  better  than  one  of  his  Negro  huts,  and 
it  appeared  droll  enough  to  eat  out  of  China  and  be  served 
in  plate  in  such  a  parlour.  He  has  however  an  excellent 
library  with  fine  globes  and  Mathematical  instruments  of 
all  kinds,  also  a  set  of  noble  telescopes,  and  tho'  the  house  is 
no  house,  yet  the  master  and  the  furniture  make  you  ample 
amends.  But  I  must  tell  you  he  built  a  bed-chamber  for  our 
reception,  by  no  means  amiss.  This  will  be  a  fine  plantation 
in  time  of  peace,  as  he  is  able  to  load  a  raft  once  a  fortnight 
— the  plantation  not  only  affording  lumber,  but  staves, 
hoops  and  ends  for  barrels  and  casks  for  the  West  India 
trade,  and  he  has  a  great  number  of  his  slaves  bred  coopers 
and  carpenters.  Every  body  agrees  that  it  is  able  to  draw 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  hundred  a  year  sterling  money. 

*  The  following  extract  from  the  county  court  records  of  Brunswick 
(1737-1741,  p.  81)  illustrates  the  raft  system.  "Large  rafts  of  lumber  are 
frequently  brought  down  the  river  and  by  stress  of  weather  are  broke  and 
lyable  to  be  lost.  Persons  picking  up  the  scattered  lumber,  boats  or  goods 
are  to  advertise  the  same  in  public  places."  The  Scottish  "dales"  are  the 
English  "deals,"  that  is,  sawn  boards  or  planks. 


i86     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  had  a  Tarrapin  dressed  there  for  turtle.  They  have 
really  an  excellent  cook  and  she  made  it  as  good  at  least  as 
any  I  ever  eat  in  Britain.  We  are  now  preparing  to  go  up  the 
country,  but  we  dread  the  heat,  which  every  day  increases. 
This  place  is  one  of  the  coolest,  as  the  reflux  of  the  tide 
ebbing  and  flowing  every  twelve  hours  forces  a  circulation 
of  air;  notwithstanding  of  which,  we  are  hardly  able  to 
breathe  even  here.  What  must  it  be  when  more  inland?  for 
even  at  my  brother's,  tho'  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  I  was  not 
able  to  exist,  and  had  been  in  the  fever  and  ague  before  this, 
had  I  remained  there,  as  he  has  most  of  his  ground  in  rice, 
which  renders  the  air  perfectly  putrid.  Of  this  he  is  very 
sensible,  and  has  made  a  purchase  down  on  the  sound*  for 
his  children  to  live  at,  but  times  just  now  put  a  stop  to  every 
thing. 

This  letter  was  begun  several  days  ago,f  but  was  to  have 
been  finished  before  I  went  up  the  country,  where  now  I  will 
never  be.  Mr  Rutherfurd  and  Miss  Rutherfurd  had  set  out 
for  Newbern,  and  my  brothers,  myself  and  another  Gentle- 
man were  to  follow.  There  are  no  inns  on  the  road,  so  we 
could  only  travel  in  such  companies  as  could  be  accommo- 
dated in  private  houses.  They  had  been  gone  two  days,  and  I 
was  at  Schawfield  ready  to  set  out,  when  to  my  no  small  sur- 
prise Miss  Rutherfurd  returned,  and  came  to  me  there.  The 
reason  of  which  was,  that  they  had  met  an  express  from 
Mr  Neilson,  informing  them  and  us  that  the  Govr's  house 
had  been  attacked,  himself  obliged  to  get  down  to  the  man- 
of-war,  and  send  off  his  wife,  sister  and  children  in  a  little 

*  Lands  or  plantations  "down  on  the  sound"  were  those  along  the  western 
side  of  the  shallow  waters  enclosed  by  the  sand  bars  and  islands  of  the  At- 
lantic coast.  Many  planters,  Heron,  Howe,  Hasell,  Grainger,  Mason,  Hooper, 
Harnett,  Lillington,  Maclaine,  Gabriel  Johnston,  and  Porter,  had  lands  or 
plantations  there  and  resided  on  them  for  all  or  a  part  of  the  summer 
season.  The  waters,  extending  for  miles  along  the  coast,  "not  being  freshened 
by  rivers  and  constantly  receiving  the  tide  from  the  sea,"  were  later  experi- 
mented with  as  affording  "a  good  surface"  for  evaporating  salt. 

f  The  journal  was  resumed  sometime  after  May  24. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          187 

vessel,  with  directions  to  land  them  in  the  first  safe  port. 
What  renders  these  circumstances  the  more  affecting  is  that 
poor  Mrs  Martin  is  big  with  child,  and  naturally  of  a  very 
delicate  constitution,  yet  even  this  is  better  than  her  staying 
here,  where  she  would  be  rendered  constantly  miserable  with 
fear.* 

On  the  Govr>s  first  coming  down,  the  people  at  Wilming- 
town  sent  aboard  to  him,  desiring  him  to  come  on  shore,  and 
he  would  be  safe.  But  he  had  luckily  got  information  that  a 
guard  and  ship  were  ready  to  carry  him  off  to  the  congress.f 

Field  days  are  now  appointed,  and  every  man  without  dis- 
tinction ordered  to  appear  under  arms  and  be  drilled.  Those 
who  will  not  comply,  must  fly  out  of  the  country,  and  leave 
their  effects  behind  them  to  the  mercy  of  these  people,  whose 

*  Governor  Martin  escaped  from  New  Bern  on  May  24  and  by  June  2 
had  taken  up  his  residence  at  Fort  Johnston.  Before  leaving  he  despatched 
his  wife  and  children  in  a  small  vessel  to  New  York,  where  they  found 
refuge  with  his  father-in-law  at  "Rockhall,"  Long  Island.  Later,  in  1776, 
one  James  Green  carried  his  furniture  and  baggage  in  a  sailing  vessel  to  the 
Cape  Fear,  but  arrived  after  he  had  left  and  consequently  the  property  was 
seized  by  the  Americans. 

Martin  remained  at  Fort  Johnston  until  its  destruction  and  then  took  up 
his  residence  on  the  ships  of  war,  going  to  Charles  Town  in  May,  1776.  In 
July  he  left  the  Peggy,  upon  which  he  had  been  living  in  Charles  Town 
harbor,  and  went  to  New  York,  arriving  there  August  l,  but  for  a  month 
was  unable  to  join  his  family,  only  twenty  miles  away,  on  account  of  the 
manoeuvres  preliminary  to  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  With  that  battle  won 
by  the  British  (August  27,  1776)  the  way  was  made  clear  and  he  probably 
went  at  once  to  "Rockhall."  His  daughter  Augusta  was  born  there  on  Septem- 
ber $. 

f  There  were  three  attempts  made  to  capture  Governor  Martin:  one  at 
New  Bern,  one  at  Fort  Johnston,  and  one  on  the  Peggy  in  Charles  Town 
harbor.  Probably  that  to  which  Miss  Schaw  refers  was  the  attempt  at  Fort 
Johnston,  which  resulted  in  the  seizure  and  destruction  of  the  fort,  but  not 
in  the  capture  of  the  governor.  Robert  Howe  was  the  instigator  of  this 
attempt,  and  was  also  concerned  in  the  project  to  take  Martin  at  Charles 
Town,  the  following  spring,  in  order  to  prevent  him  from  bringing  Corn- 
wallis  upon  the  colony.  The  Americans  believed  that  Martin,  while  at 
Charles  Town,  was  endeavoring  to  persuade  Cornwallis  to  attempt  the  inva- 
sion of  the  colony  by  way  of  the  southern  coast,  with  the  idea  of  joining  the 
Highlanders  in  an  attack  upon  Wilmington.  See  the  letters  from  Howe  to 
Charles  Lee,  "Lee  Letters,"  Collections,  New  York  Historical  Society,  1871, 
I,  398,  401.  Cf.  N.  C.  R.  X,  43. 


i88     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

kindness  is  little  to  be  trusted.  Fanny  insists  on  my  going 
again  to  Point  Pleasant,  and  I  am  myself  very  willing,  for 
I  think  it  much  more  agreeable,  as  my  brother  [Alexander] 
is  gone  down  to  the  Govr,  and  will  probably  stay  with  him 
aboard,  and  poor  Bob,  my  other  brother,  is  very  much  at  a 
loss  how  to  act,  and  dares  not  speak  on  the  subject.*  Mrs 
Schaw's  whole  connections  are  engaged.  Mr  Howe,  who  I 
told  you  was  a  candidate  for  the  command  of  the  army  here, 
has  got  a  reg1  and  Moor  is  general.  My  brother  has  been 
offered  every  thing,  but  has  refused  every  offer,  and  I  tremble 
for  his  fate,  but  any  thing  rather  than  join  these  people.  I 
will  write  you  from  Point  Pleasant,  and  I  will  leave  this  as 
we  pass  Wilmingtownf  to  catch  the  first  safe  opportunity. 

Point  Pleasant. 

On  our  return  here,  we  found  Mr  Rutherfurd  and  poor 
Neilson,  whose  situation  is  very  deplorable,  but  whatever  he 
suffers  for  himself,  he  feels  more  for  his  friend  the  governor, 
whom  he  loves  and  esteems  as  much  as  man  can  man.  When 
one  considers  the  fate  of  this  young  fellow,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  be  greatly  affected.  Had  this  unlucky  affair  not  hap- 
pened, he  had  been  in  as  fine  a  way  as  any  man  in  the  prov- 
ince, and  as  he  had  turned  all  his  attention  to  this  line,  it 
will  not  be  easy  for  him  to  carry  it  to  another.  His  health  too 
is  much  worse,  which  is  an  addition  to  his  distress,  as  it  pre- 
vents his  being  so  active  as  he  wishes  to  be.  I  laugh  at  him 
and  use  every  little  Art  in  my  power  to  make  him  view  things 
in  a  more  cheerful  light,  but  he  knows  better  than  I  do,  and 
tho'  his  good  nature  and  politeness  make  him  appear  to  be 

*  James  Murray  wrote  in  1777,  "Billy  and  Sam  C[ampbell]  and  Bob 
Schaw  will  be  obliged  to  leave  Carolina  for  not  taking  the  oaths  to  the 
states,  and  so  must  several  Scotch  for  the  like  crime"  (Letters,  p.  266). 

f  In  taking  the  longer  and  more  roundabout  route  by  water  from  "Schaw- 
field"  to  "Point  Pleasant,"  Miss  Schaw  would  have  to  pass  Wilmington. 
Apparently  this  is  what  she  means  by  her  remark. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          189 

diverted  with  my  foolings,  I  am  sensible  they  do  not  amuse 
his  melancholy.  Mr  Rutherfurd  has  got  the  gout,  but  he  does 
not  mind  it;  he  is  a  most  cheerful  companion.  However  it  is 
prudent  in  him  to  keep  out  of  the  way,  and  he  has  gone  to 
Hunthill.  Notwithstanding  Mr  Neilson's  anxiety,  he  is  a 
great  help  to  our  spirits.  He  reads,  walks  and  goes  out  on  the 
water  with  us;  but  he  leaves  us  in  a  day  or  two  and  goes 
down  to  the  man-of-war.  I  keep  scribbling  on,  tho'  I  have 
nothing  now  to  say,  unless  I  tell  you  I  have  seen  a  number  of 
snakes,  but  have  had  no  opportunity  of  taking  them  under 
consideration. 

Mr  Rutherfurd  left  us  yesterday,  and  we  go  to  town  to 
see  a  review  of  the  troops  that  remain  after  sending  a  little 
army  to  South  Carolina.  You  at  home  know  nothing  of  the 
power  of  this  country,  nor  will  you  believe  it  till  you  find 
it  with  a  witness.  I  yesterday  crushed  an  Alligator  with  my 
foot  that  in  six  months  hence  would  be  able  to  devour  me. 
Six  months  ago  a  very  little  force  would  have  done  here,  and 
even  yet  a  proper  exertion  would  do  much  towards  resettling 
peace  in  these  Southern  provinces,  tho'  I  am  far  from  believ- 
ing that  the  case  with  those  further  North. 

Wilmingtown. 

Good  heavens !  what  a  scene  this  town  is :  Surely  you  folks 
at  home  have  adopted  the  old  maxim  of  King  Charles: 
"Make  friends  of  your  foes,  leave  friends  to  shift  for  them- 
selves." 

We  came  down  in  the  morning  in  time  for  the  review,* 

*  Though  no  specific  reference  is  elsewhere  made  to  this  review,  which  so 
excited  Miss  Schaw's  derision,  it  was  probably  connected  with  the  drilling  of 
the  militia  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1775,  under  the  direction  of  Robert 
Howe,  against  which  Martin  so  vigorously  protested  (N.  C.  R.  IX,  1157 ;  X, 
149-150).  This  particular  review  took  place  early  in  June.  We  know  of  no 
troops  sent  to  South  Carolina  at  this  early  date,  although  recruiting  officers 
from  that  colony  came  to  North  Carolina  about  this  time.  Martin,  writing  on 
June  30  and  speaking  of  these  recruiting  parties,  said  that  he  hoped  they 


190     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

which  the  heat  made  as  terrible  to  the  spectators  as  to  the 
soldiers,  or  what  you  please  to  call  them.  They  had  certainly 
fainted  under  it,  had  not  the  constant  draughts  of  grog  sup- 
ported them.  Their  exercise  was  that  of  bush-fighting,  but  it 
appeared  so  confused  and  so  perfectly  different  from  any 
thing  I  ever  saw,  I  cannot  say  whether  they  performed  it 
well  or  not ;  but  this  I  know  that  they  were  heated  with  rum 
till  capable  of  committing  the  most  shocking  outrages.  We 
stood  in  the  balcony  of  Doctor  Cobham's  house  and  they 
were  reviewed  on  a  field  mostly  covered  with  what  are  called 
here  scrubby  oaks,  which  are  only  a  little  better  than  brush- 
wood. They  at  last  however  assembled  on  the  plain  field,  and 
I  must  really  laugh  while  I  recollect  their  figures :  2000  men 
in  their  shirts  and  trousers,  preceded  by  a  very  ill  beat-drum 
and  a  fiddler,  who  was  also  in  his  shirt  with  a  long  sword 
and  a  cue  at  his  hair,  who  played  with  all  his  might.  They 
made  indeed  a  most  unmartial  appearance.  But  the  worst 
figure  there  can  shoot  from  behind  a  bush  and  kill  even 
a  General  Wolfe. 

Before  the  review  was  over,  I  heard  a  cry  of  tar  and 
feather.  I  was  ready  to  faint  at  the  idea  of  this  dreadful 
operation.  I  would  have  gladly  quitted  the  balcony,  but  was 
so  much  afraid  the  Victim  was  one  of  my  friends,  that  I  was 
not  able  to  move ;  and  he  indeed  proved  to  be  one,  tho'  in  a 
humble  station.  For  it  was  Mr  Neilson's  poor  English  groom. 
You  can  hardly  conceive  what  I  felt  when  I  saw  him  dragged 
forward,  poor  devil,  frighted  out  of  his  wits.  However  at  the 
request  of  some  of  the  officers,  who  had  been  Neilson's 
friends,  his  punishment  was  changed  into  that  of  mounting 
on  a  table  and  begging  pardon  for  having  smiled  at  the  reg4. 

would  be  "disappointed  in  their  expectation  of  great  succour  from  hence" 
(ib.,  X,  48).  Miss  Schaw  may  have  been  mistaken  in  saying  that  "a  little 
army"  had  been  sent  to  South  Carolina,  but  as  she  was  on  the  spot  and  wrote 
down  what  she  heard  at  the  time,  her  statement  cannot  be  rejected  as  impos- 
sible. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          191 

He  was  then  drummed  and  fiddled  out  of  the  town,  with  a 
strict  prohibition  of  ever  being  seen  in  it  again. 

One  might  have  expected,  that  tho'  I  had  been  imprudent 
all  my  life,  the  present  occasion  might  have  inspired  me  with 
some  degree  of  caution,  and  yet  I  can  tell  you  I  had  almost 
incurred  the  poor  groom's  fate  from  my  own  folly.  Several 
of  the  officers  came  up  to  dine,  amongst  others  Coll :  Howe, 
who  with  less  ceremony  than  might  have  been  expected  from 
his  general  politeness  stept  into  an  apartment  adjoining  the 
hall,  and  took  up  a  book  I  had  been  reading,  which  he 
brought  open  in  his  hand  into  the  company.  I  was  piqued  at 
his  freedom,  and  reproved  him  with  a  half  compliment  to 
his  general  good  breeding.  He  owned  his  fault  and  with 
much  gallantry  promised  to  submit  to  whatever  punishment 
I  would  inflict.  You  shall  only,  said  I,  read  aloud  a  few 
pages  which  I  will  point  out,  and  I  am  sure  you  will  do 
Shakespear  justice.  He  bowed  and  took  the  book,  but  no 
sooner  observed  that  I  had  turned  up  for  him,  that  part  of 
Henry  the  fourth,  where  Falstaff  describes  his  company, 
than  he  coloured  like  Scarlet.  I  saw  he  made  the  application 
instantly;  however  he  read  it  thro',  tho'  not  with  the  vivacity 
he  generally  speaks ;  however  he  recovered  himself  and  com- 
ing close  up  to  me,  whispered,  you  will  certainly  get  yourself 
tarred  and  feathered;  shall  I  apply  to  be  executioner"?  I  am 
going  to  seal  this  up.  Adieu. 

I  closed  my  last  packet  at  Doctor  Cobham's  after  the  re- 
view, and  as  I  hoped  to  hear  of  some  method  of  getting  it 
sent  to  you,  stayed,  tho'  Miss  Rutherfurd  was  obliged  to  go 
home.  As  soon  as  she  was  gone,  I  went  into  the  town,  the 
entry  of  which  I  found  closed  up  by  a  detachment  of  the 
soldiers;  but  as  the  officer  immediately  made  way  for  me, 
I  took  no  further  notice  of  it,  but  advanced  to  the  middle  of 
the  street,  where  I  found  a  number  of  the  first  people  in  town 
standing  together,  who  (to  use  Milton's  phrase)  seemed  ^ 
much  impassioned.  As  most  of  them  were  my  acquaintances, 


192     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

I  stopped  to  speak  to  them,  but  they  with  one  voice  begged 
me  for  heaven's  sake  to  get  off  the  street,  making  me  observe 
they  were  prisoners,  adding  that  every  avenue  of  the  town 
was  shut  up,  and  that  in  all  human  probability  some  scene 
would  be  acted  very  unfit  for  me  to  witness.  I  could  not  take 
the  friendly  advice,  for  I  became  unable  to  move  and  abso- 
lutely petrified  with  horror. 

Observing  however  an  officer  with  whom  I  had  just  dined, 
I  beckoned  him  to  me.  He  came,  but  with  no  very  agreeable 
look,  and  on  my  asking  him  what  was  the  matter,  he  pre- 
sented a  paper  he  had  folded  in  his  hand.  If  you  will  per- 
suade them  to  sign  this  they  are  at  liberty,  said  he,  but  till 
then  must  remain  under  this  guard,  as  they  must  suffer  the 
penalties  they  have  justly  incurred.  "And  we  will  suffer 
every  thing,"  replied  one  of  them,  "before  we  abjure  our 
king,  our  country  and  our  principles."  "This,  Ladies,"  said 
he  turning  to  me,  who  was  now  joined  by  several  Ladies, 
"is  what  they  call  their  Test,  but  by  what  authority  this  Gen- 
tleman forces  it  on  us,  we  are  yet  to  learn."  "There  is  my 
Authority,"  pointing  to  the  Soldiers  with  the  most  insolent 
air,  "dispute  it,  if  you  can."  Oh  Britannia,  what  are  you 
doing,  while  your  true  obedient  sons  are  thus  insulted  by 
their  unlawful  brethren;  are  they  also  forgot  by  their  natural 
parents?* 

*  On  March  6,  1775,  the  Wilmington  Committee  of  Safety  formally 
accepted  the  Continental  Association  and  voted  that  all  its  members  should 
go  in  a  body  and  wait  upon  the  housekeepers  in  town,  requesting  their  signa- 
tures to  the  same  or  receiving  from  them  their  reasons  for  refusing  to  sign, 
in  order  "that  such  enemies  of  their  country  may  be  set  forth  to  public  view 
and  treated  with  the  contempt  they  merit."  Nine  merchants  and  planters  and 
two  tailors  (among  the  nine  was  Dr.  Cobham)  at  first  refused  to  sign 
(N.  C.  R.  IX,  1166)  and  were  placed  under  a  boycott,  but  later,  another 
opportunity  being  given,  Dr.  Cobham  took  advantage  of  it. 

John  Ashe,  who  had  declined  a  reappointment  as  colonel  of  militia  under 
Martin,  took  command  of  a  body  of  some  four  or  five  hundred  men  and 
appearing  in  Wilmington  threatened  "the  people  above  mentioned  with 
military  execution,  if  they  did  not  immediately  sign  the  Association  dictated 
by  the  committee,  and  being  interrogated  for  his  authority  pointed  to  the 
men  he  had  assembled."  "His  cowardly  intimidations  of  these  individuals 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          193 

We,  the  Ladies,  adjourned  to  the  house  of  a  Lady,  who 
lived  in  this  street,  and  whose  husband  was  indeed  at  home, 
but  secretly  shut  up  with  some  ambassadors  from  the  back 
settlements*  on  their  way  to  the  Govr  to  offer  their  service, 
provided  he  could  let  them  have  arms  and  ammunition,  but 
above  all  such  commissions  as  might  empower  them  to  raise 
men  by  proper  authority.  This  I  was  presently  told  tho'  in 
the  midst  of  enemies,  but  the  Loyal  party  are  all  as  one 
family.  Various  reasons  induced  me  to  stay  all  Night  in  the 
house  I  was  then  at,  tho'  it  could  afford  me  no  resting  place. 
I  wished  to  know  the  fate  of  the  poor  men  who  were  in  such 
present  jeopardy,  and  besides  hoped  that  I  should  get  word 
to  my  brother,  or  send  your  packet  by  the  Gentlemen  who 
were  going  to  the  man-of-war.  In  the  last  I  have  succeeded, 
and  they  are  so  good  as  [to]  promise  to  get  it  safely  there  to 
my  brother  or  the  Govr  who  would  not  fail  to  send  it  by  first 
opportunity  to  Britain.  Indeed  it  is  very  dangerous  to  keep 
letters  by  me,  for  whatever  noise  general  warrants  made  in 
the  mouths  of  your  sons  of  faction  at  home,  their  friends 
and  fellow  rebels  use  it  with  less  ceremony  than  ever  it  was 
practised  in  Britain,  at  any  period. 

Rebels,  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  ventured  that  word, 
more  than  in  thought,  but  to  proceed. 

(writes  Martin)  so  far  answered  the  purpose  that  they  were  obliged  to  sign 
what  their  consciences  revolted  at  and  abhorred."  In  another  letter  Martin 
adds,  "The  Scotch  merchants  at  Wilmington  who  so  long  maintained  their 
loyalty  have  lately  (August,  1775)  been  compelled  ostensibly  to  join  in 
sedition  by  appearing  under  arms  at  the  musters  appointed  by  the  com- 
mittees, although  they  are  still  at  heart  as  well  affected  as  ever"  (ib.,  X,  48, 
170-171,  236).  In  the  Cape  Fear  Mercury  of  August  25,  1775,  among  the 
items  is  this:  "Lt.  Col.  Cotton  &  Sam1  and  Jacob  Williams  stopped,  having 
been  eight  days  on  board  the  Cruizer  with  Gov.  Martin.  They  signed  the 
association." 

*  The  "ambassadors  from  the  back  settlements"  were  of  course  High- 
landers, one  of  whom  was  Captain  Alexander  McLeod,  late  an  officer  of 
marines,  who  had  been  in  the  colony  about  a  year.  With  whom  he  was 
closeted  in  Wilmington  we  are  not  informed,  but  eventually  he  made  his 
way  down  the  river  and  had  an  interview  with  the  governor  (N.  C.  R.  X, 
326). 


194     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

The  prisoners  stood  firm  to  their  resolution  of  not  signing 
the  Test,  till  past  two  in  the  morning,  tho'  every  threatening 
was  used  to  make  them  comply;  at  which  time  a  Message 
from  the  committee  compromised  the  affair,  and  they  were 
suffered  to  retire  on  their  parole  to  appear  next  morning 
before  them.  This  was  not  a  step  of  mercy  or  out  of  regard 
to  the  Gentlemen;  but  they  understood  that  a  number  of 
their  friends  were  arming  in  their  defence,  and  tho'  they  had 
kept  about  150  ragamuffins  still  in  town,  they  were  not  sure 
even  of  them;  for  to  the  credit  of  that  town  be  it  spoke, 
there  are  not  five  men  of  property  and  credit  in  it  that  are 
infected  by  this  unfortunate  disease. 

As  I  had  nothing  further  to  do  in  town,  I  came  up  to 
Schawfield,  where  Fanny  met  me,  and  we  will  go  to  Point 
Pleasant  again  in  a  day  or  two,  as  I  find  this  place  so  warm, 
that  I  shall  certainly  have  a  fever,  if  I  stay.  It  is  beautiful 
however,  the  garden  is  in  great  glory,  tubby  roses  so  large 
and  fragrant,  as  is  quite  beyond  a  British  idea,  and  the 
Trumpet  honey-suckle  is  five  times  as  large  as  ours,  and 
every  thing  else  in  proportion.  I  particularly  name  these  two 
as  their  bell  seems  the  favourite  bed  of  the  dear  little  hum- 
ming birds,  which  are  here  in  whole  flocks.  The  place  alto- 
gether is  very  fine,  the  India  corn  is  now  almost  ready,  and 
makes  a  noble  appearance.  The  rice  too  is  whitening,  and  its 
distant  appearance  is  that  of  our  green  oats,  but  there  is  no 
living  near  it  with  the  putrid  water  that  must  lie  on  it,  and 
the  labour  required  for  it  is  only  fit  for  slaves,  and  I  think  the 
hardest  work  I  have  seen  them  engaged  in.  The  indigo  is  now 
ready;  it  looks  very  pretty,  but  for  all  these  I  refer  you  to 
Miller's  description,  which,  on  comparison,  I  find  perfectly 
just.  Tho'  the  water  melons  here  are  thought  particularly 
fine,  I  am  not  yet  reconciled  to  them.  My  brother  brought 
some  cantalup  melon  seed,  which  was  sown  here;  tho',  by 
what  accident  I  cannot  tell,  they  were  all  torn  up  while 
green.  They  must  have  been  exquisite,  but  every  melon  ex- 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          195 

cept  the  water  melon,  is  indiscriminately  called  musk  melon 
and  despised,  which  is  a  pity,  for  our  good  ones  must  be  a 
great  treat  here.  The  cotton  is  now  ripe,*  and  tho'  only 
annual  grows  to  a  little  bush.  It  seems  extremely  good,  and 
is  very  prolifick.  They  complain  much  of  the  trouble  it  re- 
quires, as  it  must  not  only  be  weeded,  but  watched  while 
green,  as  the  bears  are  very  fond  of  it  in  its  infancy.  It  also  is 
troublesome  to  gather  and  to  clean  from  the  husk,  so  that 
few  house-wives  will  venture  on  the  task,  and  I  am  glad  they 
do  not;  for  under  proper  management,  it  would  be  an  Article 
of  great  consequence.  Two  or  three  score  of  our  old  women 
with  their  cards  and  wheels  would  hurt  the  linnen  Manufac- 
tories. But  were  I  a  planter,  I  would  send  a  son  or  two  to 
be  bred  to  the  weaving  and  farming  business,  who  might 
teach  the  Negroes,  and  I  would  bring  out  a  ship  loaded  on 
my  own  account  with  wheels,  reels  and  Looms,  also  ploughs, 
harrows,  drills,  spades,  rakes,  etc.  And  this  may  all  happen, 
when  Britain  strikes  home.  We  set  off  this  afternoon  for  the 
Point  and  travel  by  land,  so  I  will  be  able  to  give  you  some 
account  of  our  journey  in  that  way,  as  we  must  go  by  the 
great  road  that  leads  into  South  Carolina  the  one  way  and 
Virginia  the  other,  f  Adieu. 

*  This  section  is  surely  misplaced.  Cotton  cannot  have  been  ripe  in  the 
first  week  of  July.  It  may  have  been  in  flower,  but  not  in  boll  before  the 
latter  part  of  September.  . 

fThe  plan  was  to  go  to  "Point  Pleasant"  by  land  instead  of  by  water, 
taking  the  road  out  of  Wilmington  that  led  north  toward  Heron's  bridge 
and 'from  that  point  along  the  west  side  of  the  river  on  into  Virginia.  This 
road,  known  as  the  Duplin  road,  was  the  main  thoroughfare  into  the  up- 
country  in  the  direction  of  Hillsboro  and  the  Dan.  It  seems  to  have  been 
possible  to  go  to  New  Bern  also  by  this  route,  turning  just  below  Holly 
Shelter  Creek,  at  New  Exeter  (a  town  that  never  grew  up),  and  eventually 
joining  the  regular  New  Bern  road.  Craig's  army,  after  taking  Wilmington 
in  1781,  marched  on  New  Bern  and  returned  to  Wilmington  by  this  route, 
stopping  at  Rutherfurd's  plantation  for  four  days  on  the  way. 

But  Miss  Schaw  would  not  go  as  far  as  Heron's  bridge.  Passing  behind 
"Hilton,"  she  would  turn  off  a  short  distance  beyond  the  "Hermitage"  and 
"Castle  Haynes"  and  ride  four  miles  west  through  the  woods  to  "Point 
Pleasant,"  which  lay  on  the  south  bank,  at  the  bend  of  the  river.  Even  in 
1801  the  road  out  of  Wilmington  up  the  Northeast  branch  "was  narrow  and 


196     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

P.  S.  This  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  my  brother,  who 
has  just  stole  up  from  the  Sound  to  bid  me,  farewell.  He  has 
not  an  hour  to  stay :  he  goes  home  with  despatches  from  the 
Govr.  I  am  lost  in  confusion,  this  is  unexpected  indeed — oh 
heavens!  Farewell. 

Thank  God,  my  brother  got  safe  aboard  the  King's  ship 
and  sailed  with  Cap1  Talmash  in  his  frigate  that  same  after- 
noon for  England.*  It  was  very  fortunate  he  had  the  pre- 
caution to  venture  thro'  the  woods  under  the  guidance  of  a 
single  Negro,  for  tho'  his  coming  up  from  the  Sound,  as  well 
as  his  intended  expedition  were  concealed  with  the  utmost 
care,  yet  his  leaving  the  frigate  just  as  Cap*  Talmash  arrived 
had  been  known  and  raised  such  suspicions  that  the  roads 
were  guarded  to  watch  his  return  and  seize  him.  Of  this  his 
friend  at  the  Sound  was  informed  and  was  in  the  utmost 
distress.  It  would  not  however  have  been  an  easy  matter  to 
make  him  yield,  as  he  had  an  invincible  aversion  to  the  tar- 
led  through  a  pine  forest."  "We  thought  we  were  in  a  lane,"  writes  Caroline 
Burgwin,  who  had  just  come  from  England  to  take  charge  of  the  "Hermit- 
age," her  father's  home,  "and  expressed  to  our  astonished  driver  our  fears 
of  an  attack  by  wild  beasts"  (Burr,  The  Hermitage,  1885). 

*  On  July  5,  Governor  Martin  wrote  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  "I  have  en- 
gaged Mr.  Alexr  Schaw,  whom  I  have  the  honour  to  introduce  to  your  Lord- 
ship, to  charge  himself  with  this  letter.  This  gentleman  is  qualified  by  his 
intelligence,  his  candour,  and  his  accurate  observation,  during  some  months 
that  he  has  resided  in  this  colony,  to  give  your  Lordship  every  information 
that  you  can  desire  relative  to  its  present  condition  and  circumstances.  Mr. 
Schaw  is  an  officer  in  the  customs  in  the  Is.  of  St.  Christopher's,  from  which 
he  has  been  absent  by  leave  on  his  private  concerns,  and  was  preparing  to 
return  to  it,  when  Capt.  Tollemache's  arrival  presented  me  with  so  fair  an 
occasion  to  employ  him  advantageously  for  his  Majesty's  service  that  I  could 
not  resist  it"  (Public  Record  Office,  C.  O.  5:318). 

Schaw  sailed  with  Captain  Tollemache  on  the  Scorpion,  July  6  or  7.  The 
Scorpion  had  left  Charles  Town  shortly  before  for  Boston,  touching  at  the 
Cape  Fear  to  deliver  despatches  from  Gage  to  Martin  and  to  receive  any- 
thing that  Martin  might  wish  to  send.  Schaw  transshipped  at  Boston  to  an- 
other vessel  for  England,  arriving  there  sometime  in  September  or  October. 
He  had  not  reached  London  by  September  15,  but  was  there  on  October  31. 
His  letters  to  Dartmouth  are  dated  October  31  and  November  8.  For  his 
expenses  Governor  Martin  advanced  him  £100,  which  sum  was  afterwards  in- 
cluded in  Martin's  statement  of  account  with  the  British  government  (Public 
Record  Office,  Declared  Accounts,  1259,  139). 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          197 

pot,  and  as  he  carried  a  pair  of  pistols  in  each  pocket,  he 
would  have  tried  these  in  the  first  instance;  but  it  is  much 
better  as  it  is.  I  have  a  letter  from  him  after  he  got  on  board 
Capt  Talmash,  where  he  desires  me  to  take  the  first  oppor- 
tunity of  going  to  Sl  Kitts  and  carrying  with  me  my  young 
friends.  And  that  I  might  be  able  to  do  so  in  comfort,  he 
sends  me  an  order  to  his  man  of  business  to  put  into  my 
hands,  whatever  belonged  to  him  on  the  Island,  and  pay  me 
his  Salary  till  I  can  hear  from  him  about  my  return  to 
Britain*  and  begs  Mr  Rutherfurd  to  agree  to  his  proposal, 
and  Mr  Rutherfurd  says  it  must  come  to  that  or  worse,  and 
seems  satisfied.  But  poor  Fanny  has  so  lately  found  a  father 
that  she  is  loath  to  lose  him  again  so  soon,  so  that  for  the 
present  the  scale  of  fate  hangs  doubtful. 

Mr  Neilson  came  here  some  days  ago,  he  looks  worse  than 
ever,  and  his  ague  more  severe.  He  has  anxiety  painted  on 
his  looks.  He  makes  light  however  of  his  own  distresses,  but 
seems  to  suffer  perfect  agony  on  the  Governor's  account, 
whom  he  cannot  mention  without  feeling  that  anguish,  which 
is  too  strong  for  his  constitution.  May  God  deliver  him  and 
all  our  distressed  countrymen  from  the  present  situation.  A 
few  months  ago  the  task  would  have  been  easy;  it  is  still 
possible,  but  (God  make  me  a  false  prophetess)  it  will  not 
be  long  so.  The  inclination  of  this  country  is  however  far 
from  being  generally  for  this  work.  Indolent  and  inactive, 
they  have  no  desire  to  move,  even  where  their  own  immediate 
interest  calls  them.  All  they  are  promised  is  too  distant  to 

*  Schaw  was  appointed  searcher  of  customs  at  Basseterre,  St.  Kitts,  March 
31,  1774.  When  there  in  January,  1775,  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  for 
twelve  months  from  March  6,  but  never  went  back.  That  he  intended,  when 
he  left  North  Carolina,  to  return  to  St.  Christopher  from  England,  and  that 
his  friends  expected  him  to  do  so,  when  he  parted  from  them  in  July,  appears 
from  the  act  of  his  brother  Robert,  who  six  months  later,  on  December  10, 
1775,  transferred  to  "Alexr  Schaw,  Senior,  of  the  Island  of  St.  Christopher, 
Esq."  a  certain  negro  woman  named  Lucy,  for  the  "maintenance  and  educa- 
tion" of  his  own  son,  Alexander  Schaw,  Jr.  (Brunswick  County  Records, 
Conveyances,  B,  299). 


198     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

interest  them ;  they  suffer  none  of  those  abuses  they  are  told 
of  and  feel  their  liberty  invaded  only  by  the  oppressive 
power  of  the  Congress  and  their  Agents,  who  at  this  Season 
are  pressing  them  from  their  harvest,  for  they  know  not  what 
purpose.  But  tho'  they  show  at  first  a  very  great  degree  of 
reluctance  to  go,  yet  they  believe  there  is  no  retreat,  after 
they  have  been  once  under  arms  and  are  convinced  that  from 
that  moment  they  fight  for  their  lives  and  properties,  which 
by  that  act  are  both  forfeited  to  their  blood-thirsty  enemies. 
You  may  therefore  be  assured  they  will  not  fail  to  exert  all 
the  activity  and  courage  they  are  able  to  muster  up,  and, 
once  engaged  themselves,  are  willing  to  draw  in  others. 

It  is  a  most  unfortunate  circumstance  they  have  got  time 
to  inculcate  this  idea.  Three  months  ago,  a  very  small  num- 
ber had  not  any  thing  to  apprehend;  a  few  troops  landing 
and  a  general  amnesty  published  would  have  secured  them 
all  at  home.  For  I  do  not  suppose  them  of  such  a  martial 
spirit  as  voluntarily  to  have  joined  Cother's  standard.  At 
present  the  martial  law  stands  thus :  An  officer  or  committee- 
man  enters  a  plantation  with  his  posse.  The  Alternative  is 
proposed,  Agree  to  join  us,  and  your  persons  and  properties 
are  safe;  you  have  a  shilling  sterling  a  day;  your  duty  is  no 
more  than  once  a  month  appearing  under  Arms  at  Wilming- 
town,  which  will  prove  only  a  merry-making,  where  you  will 
have  as  much  grog  as  you  can  drink.  But  if  you  refuse,  we  are 
directly  to  cut  up  your  corn,  shoot  your  pigs,  burn  your 
houses,  seize  your  Negroes  and  perhaps  tar  and  feather  your- 
self. Not  to  chuse  the  first  requires  more  courage  than  they 
are  possessed  of,  and  I  believe  this  method  has  seldom  failed 
with  the  lower  sort.  No  sooner  do  they  appear  under  arms 
on  the  stated  day,  than  they  are  harangued  by  their  officers 
with  the  implacable  cruelty  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain, 
who  has  resolved  to  murder  and  destroy  man,  wife  and  child, 
and  that  he  has  sworn  before  God  and  his  parliament  that 
he  will  not  spare  one  of  them ;  and  this  those  deluded  people 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA          199 

believe  more  firmly  than  their  creed,  and  who  is  it  that  is 
bold  enough  to  venture  to  undeceive  them.  The  King's  proc- 
lamation* they  never  saw;  but  are  told  it  was  ordering  the 
tories  to  murder  the  whigs,  and  promising  every  Negro  that 
would  murder  his  Master  and  family  that  he  should  have  his 
Master's  plantation.  This  last  Artifice  they  may  pay  for,  as 
the  Negroes  have  got  it  amongst  them  and  believe  it  to  be 
true.  Tis  ten  to  one  they  may  try  the  experiment,  and  in  that 
case  friends  and  foes  will  be  all  one. 

I  came  to  town  yesterday  with  an  intention  of  being  at 
church  this  day,  where  I  was  informed  there  was  to  be  ser- 
vice performed  by  a  very  good  clergyman.  In  this  however 
I  was  disappointed,  for  I  found  the  whole  town  in  an  uproar, 
and  the  moment  I  landed,  Mr  Rutherfurd's  negroes  were 
seized  and  taken  into  custody  till  I  was  ready  to  return  with 
them.  This  apparent  insult  I  resented  extremely,  till  going 
up  to  Doctor  Cobham's,  I  found  my  short  prophecy  in  regard 
to  the  Negroes  was  already  fulfilled  and  that  an  insurrection 
was  hourly  expected. f  There  had  been  a  great  number  of 
them  discovered  in  the  adjoining  woods  the  night  before, 
most  of  them  with  arms,  and  a  fellow  belonging  to  Doctor 
Cobham  was  actually  killed.  All  parties  are  now  united 

*  By  "King's  proclamation,"  Miss  Schaw  means  the  proclamation  issued 
by  Governor  Gage  of  Massachusetts,  Boston,  June  12,  1775,  as  a  broadside, 
offering  "His  most  gracious  Majesty's  pardon  to  all  persons  who  shall  forth- 
with lay  down  their  arms  and  return  to  the  duties  of  peaceable  subjects, 
excepting  only  from  the  benefits  of  such  pardon,  Samuel  Adams  and  John 
Hancock,"  etc.  It  corresponds  to  a  similar  pardon  issued  by  Clinton  offering 
amnesty  to  all  in  North  Carolina,  except  Harnett  and  Howe.  Martin  calls 
Gage's  proclamation  "a  proclamation  of  the  King"  and  it  was  generally  so 
interpreted. 

f  It  was  believed  in  the  province  that  Martin  had  planned  to  arm  the 
negroes  and  to  proclaim  the  freedom  of  such  of  them  as  would  join  the 
King's  standard.  John  Stuart,  in  his  letter  to  Dartmouth,  of  July  21,  1775, 
mentions  a  report  which  had  spread  through  the  Carolinas  that  the  negroes 
were  immediately  to  be  set  free  by  the  government  and  that  arms  were  to 
be  given  them  to  fall  upon  their  masters.  In  consequence  of  these  rumors, 
the  Wilmington  Committee  ordered  that  all  negroes  be  disarmed.  During 
June  and  July  the  conditions  which  Miss  Schaw  describes  characterized  the 
life  of  the  town  (N.  C.  R.  X,  43,  94-95,  112,  118). 


2OO     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

against  the  common  enemies.  Every  man  is  in  arms  and  the 
patroles  going  thro'  all  the  town,  and  searching  every  Negro's 
house,  to  see  they  are  all  at  home  by  nine  at  night.  But  what 
is  most  provoking,  every  mouth  male  and  female  is  opened 
against  Britain,  her  King  and  their  abettors — here  called  the 
tories, — tho'  the  poor  tories  are  likely  to  surfer,  at  least  as 
much  as  any  of  them,  and  who  were  as  ready  to  give  their 
assistance  to  quell  them  as  any  independents  amongst  them. 
But  whatever  way  this  end,  it  will  confirm  the  report  I  for- 
merly mentioned  to  you  past  all  contradiction. 

As  I  was  afraid  to  venture  up  with  only  the  Negroes,  I 
despatched  the  boat  with  them,  and  a  letter  to  Fanny,  beg- 
ging her  to  secure  all  their  arms  and  come  herself  down  to 
town.  She  is  far  from  well :  her  father  is  as  yet  at  Hunthill. 
Mr  Neilson  came  down  with  me  and  presently  went  off  to 
the  Governor,  so  she  has  no  white  person  with  her,  but  our 
two  Abigails.  I  expect  her  every  moment.  I  go  to  sup  with 
my  friends  on  the  hill,  and  return  to  sleep  at  the  Doctor's. 
I  change  my  quarters  every  time  I  am  in  town,  to  please  all 
my  friends.  To  do  the  whole  justice,  they  are  very  hospitable. 
Good  evening  to  you.  I  will  write  again  to  morrow.  I  have 
an  excellent  apartment,  and  every  body  is  too  much  engaged 
about  themselves  to  mind  what  I  am  doing. 

After  a  sleepless  night,  to  which  the  musquetoes  con- 
tributed more  than  my  fears  of  the  Negroes,  I  am  sat  down 
by  the  first  peep  of  day  to  inform  you  of  what  further  hap- 
pened yesterday.  I  told  you  I  was  going  to  sup  at  the  hill, 
which  is  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  town.  Here  I  found 
the  affair  of  the  Negroes  justly  attributed  to  the  cause  I 
formerly  mentioned,  viz1  that  of  falsifying  the  King's  proc- 
lamation, for  tho'  neither  they  nor  I  had  seen  it,  we  were 
convinced  it  was  in  a  style  the  reverse  of  what  was  given  out. 
Our  time  passed  so  agreeably  that  it  was  now  too  late  to 
venture  so  far  without  some  male  protector,  and  as  all  the 
Negroes  were  locked  up,  I  therefore  waited  till  the  Mid- 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         201 

night  patrol  arrived,  the  commander  of  which  was  a  tory, 
and  my  particular  acquaintance.  Under  his  protection  there- 
fore I  marched  off  at  the  head  of  the  party  stopping  at  the 
different  houses  in  our  way  to  examine  if  the  Negroes  were 
at  home.  For  God's  sake !  draw  a  picture  of  your  friend  in 
this  situation  and  see  if  'tis  possible  to  know  me.  Oh !  I  shall 
make  a  glorious  knapsack-bearer.  You  have  formed  a  very 
wrong  idea  of  my  delicacy;  I  find  I  can  put  it  on  and  off  like 
any  piece  of  dress.  But  to  proceed  with  my  Mid-night  march. 
While  the  men  went  into  the  houses,  I  stayed  without  with 
the  commander  of  the  party,  who  took  that  opportunity  to 
assure  me,  he  believed  the  whole  was  a  trick  intended  in  the 
first  place  to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  populace,  and  in  the 
next  place  to  get  those  who  had  not  before  taken  up  arms  to 
do  it  now  and  form  an  association  for  the  safety  of  the  town. 
What  further  design  they  had,  he  could  not  tell,  but  made 
not  the  least  doubt  it  was  for  some  sinister  purpose  this  farce 
was  carried  on.  That  poor  Cobham  had  lost  a  valuable  slave, 
and  the  poor  fellow  his  life  without  the  least  reason,  he  was 
certain;  for  that  it  was  a  fact  well  known  to  almost  every  body 
that  he  met  a  Mistress  every  night  in  the  opposite  wood,  and 
that  the  wench  being  kept  by  her  Master,  was  forced  to  carry 
on  the  intrigue  with  her  black  lover  with  great  secrecy,  which 
was  the  reason  the  fellow  was  so  anxious  to  conceal  himself; 
that  the  very  man  who  shot  him  knew  this,  and  had  watched 
him.  My  hypothesis  is  however  that  the  Negroes  will  re- 
volt. I  bade  my  friend  good  night  and  found  Mrs  Cobham 
in  a  terrible  huff,  from  the  idea  I  was  not  to  come  back  that 
night.  She  is  so  much  affected  by  the  fate  of  her  Negro,  that 
she  is  almost  as  great  a  tory  as  her  husband,  which  was  not 
lately  the  case.*  But  here  comes  the  Coffee,  farewell.  If 
Fanny  come  down,  I  will  write  again  from  this. 

*Mrs.  Cobham  was  probably  a  native  of  the  province.  Her  first  husband 
was  John  Paine  of  Brunswick  county  and  she  was  married  to  Dr.  Cobham 
sometime  in  the  late  sixties. 


2O2     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Point  Pleasant. 

Fanny  could  not  come  down,  and  my  fear  of  the  Negroes 
being  over,  I  returned  in  the  Phaeton  she  had  sent  down  for 
me  and  travelled  off  by  the  great  road,  which  I  believe  I  have 
never  mentioned  to  you.  I  am  indeed  extremely  inaccurate, 
but  you  must  pardon  me.  I  do  the  best  to  obey  your  com- 
mands and  keep  my  own  promise,  to  both  of  which  I  am  in 
duty  bound.  This  road  begins  at  Wilmingtown  and  goes  clear 
across  the  country  to  Virginia  on  one  side  and  South  Carolina 
on  the  other,  and  as  its  course  lies  across  the  river,  it  is 
crossed  by  a  bridge,  which  tho'  built  of  timber  is  truly  a  noble 
one,  broader  than  that  over  the  Tay  at  Perth.  It  opens  at  the 
middle  to  both  sides  and  rises  by  pullies,  so  as  to  suffer  Ships 
to  pass  under  it.*  The  road  is  sufficiently  broad  to  allow 
fifty  men  to  march  abreast,  and  the  woods  much  thinner  of 
trees  than  anywhere  I  have  seen  them.  The  pasture  under 
these  trees  is  far  from  bad,  tho'  the  hot  season  has  parched 
it  a  good  deal.  Off  from  this  wood  lie  many  plantations, 
which  however  are  hid  amongst  the  trees  from  the  view  of 
the  road,  and  not  easy  of  access  from  it.  Point  Pleasant  lies 
about  four  miles  off  from  it — part  of  the  way  is  thro'  the 
woods,  where  the  path  is  devious  and  uncertain  to  those  that 
are  unacquainted  with  it.  About  a  mile  or  little  more  from 
Point  Pleasant,  begins  a  most  dismal  swamp  thro'  the  middle 
of  which  there  is  a  road  made  with  infinite  labour,  raised  on 
piles  covered  with  branches,  and  over  all  sods;  and  it  is  by 
no  means  comfortable  to  drive  a  carriage  over  it,  as  the 
swamps  on  each  hand  appear  unfathomable,  and  I  would 

*  As  far  as  we  know  Heron's  bridge  was  the  only  drawbridge  in  the 
colonies.  There  had  been  a  ferry  at  that  point  over  the  Northeast  until  1766, 
when  Captain  Heron,  who  owned  land  there  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  was 
authorized  by  act  of  assembly  to  build  a  bridge.  This  bridge  was  to  "have 
one  wide  arch  of  thirty  feet  for  rafts  and  pettiauguas  to  pass  through  and 
six  feet  above  high-water  mark,  and  be  made  to  draw  up  occasionally  for  the 
navigation  of  vessels  of  larger  burthen."  The  ferry  was  abolished  and  Heron 
was  authorized  to  erect  a  gate  and  take  tolls  (N.  C.  State  Records,  XXV, 
506-507).  Miss  Schaw's  description  of  this  bridge  is  interesting. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         203 

really  believe  them  so,  did  not  the  noble  Magnolias,  the  bays 
and  a  thousand  Myrtles  convince  me  it  had  a  bottom  from 
which  they  spring. 

For  a  description  of  the  Magnolia,  I  refer  you  to  Miller, 
tho'  they  are  infinitely  more  beautiful  than  he  describes 
them,  and  carry  the  flower  twice  a  year  on  trees  as  large  and 
full  spread  as  our  Oaks,  and  you  may  conceive  the  Glory  of 
a  full  spread  oak  covered  with  white  roses,  for  both  in  smell 
and  look  that  is  the  flower  they  resemble.  The  Myrtle  thro' 
all  this  swamp  is  the  candle-berry-myrtle,  which  makes  the 
green  candle  you  have  seen  at  home.  They  give  a  very  pleas- 
ant light,  and  when  placed  in  a  silver  candle-stick,  look  ex- 
tremely pretty.  And  here  for  a  moment  let  me  lead  you  to 
admire  what  Nature  has  done  for  the  inhabitants  of  this 
country.  This  is  an  Article  which  every  house-wife  grudges 
the  expence  of — here  they  have  it  for  nothing,  if  they  would 
only  accept  of  it.  The  cotton  is  in  plenty  growing  every 
where  for  the  wick,  if  they  would  take  the  trouble  to  spin  it. 
The  berries  hang  to  the  hand,  and  seem  to  beg  you  to  gather 
them,  but  they  generally  beg  in  vain,  not  one  out  of  fifty 
will  take  the  trouble  to  make  them  into  candles.  The  poorer 
sort  burn  pieces  of  lightwood,  which  they  find  without  trou- 
ble, and  the  people  of  fashion  use  only  Spermaceti,  and  if 
any  green  wax,  it  is  only  for  kitchen  use.  I  have  seen  it  pre- 
pared however,  and  its  process  is  the  most  simple  you  can 
imagine.  When  the  berries  are  gathered  and  picked  from  the 
stalks,  they  are  thrown  into  a  kettle  of  Water,  which  is  set 
to  boil,  and  kept  boiling  for  a  few  hours,  in  which  time  the 
berries  melt  almost  away.  It  is  then  set  to  cool,  and  when 
cold,  you  find  the  grosser  parts  have  sunk  to  the  bottom  of 
the  kettle,  while  the  pure  wax  forms  a  cake  on  the  top.  To 
have  it  fine,  it  requires  to  go  thro'  several  boilings,  and  then 
it  will  become  so  transparent  as  to  be  seen  thro'.  All  that  is 
further  to  be  done  is  only  to  melt  it,  and  pour  it  into  proper 


204     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

moulds,  when  it  will  afford  the  most  agreeable  light  a  candle 
can  give. 

As  soap  and  candle  are  commonly  a  joint  manufacture,  I 
will  now  mention  that  article,  which  they  have  here  very 
good,  as  they  have  the  finest  ashes  in  the  world.  But  when 
you  have  occasionally  to  buy  it,  however,  you  meet  only 
with  Irish  soap,  and  tho'  some  house-wives  are  so  notable  as 
to  make  it  for  themselves,  which  they  do  at  no  expence,  yet 
most  of  them  buy  it  at  the  store  at  a  monstrous  price.  They 
are  the  worst  washers  of  linen  I  ever  saw,  and  tho'  it  be  the 
country  of  indigo  they  never  use  blue,  nor  allow  the  sun  to 
look  at  them.  All  the  cloaths  coarse  and  fine,  bed  and  table 
linen,  lawns,  cambricks  and  muslins,  chints,  checks,  all  are 
promiscuously  thrown  into  a  copper  with  a  quantity  of  water 
and  a  large  piece  of  soap.  This  is  set  a  boiling,  while  a  Negro 
wench  turns  them  over  with  a  stick.  This  operation  over, 
they  are  taken  out,  squeezed  and  thrown  on  the  Pales  to  dry. 
They  use  no  calender;  they  are  however  much  better 
smoothed  than  washed.  Mrs  Miller  offered  to  teach  them  the 
British  method  of  treating  linens,  which  she  understands 
extremely  well,  as,  to  do  her  justice,  she  does  every  thing 
that  belongs  to  her  station,  and  might  be  of  great  use  to  them. 
But  Mrs  Schaw  was  affronted  at  the  offer.  She  showed  them 
however  by  bleaching  those  of  Miss  Rutherfurd,  my  brothers 
and  mine,  how  different  a  little  labour  made  them  appear, 
and  indeed  the  power  of  the  sun  was  extremely  apparent  in 
the  immediate  recovery  of  some  bed  and  table-linen,  that  had 
been  so  ruined  by  sea  water,  that  I  thought  them  irrecover- 
ably lost.  Poor  Bob,  who  has  not  seen  a  bleaching-washing 
since  a  boy,  was  charmed  with  it,  and  Mrs  Miller  was  not  a 
little  pleased  with  the  compliments  he  made  her  on  it.  Indeed 
this  and  a  dish  of  hodge  podge  she  made  for  him  have  made 
her  a  vast  favourite,  and  she  has  promised  him  a  sheeps' 
head.  But  as  she  rises  in  the  Master's  esteem,  she  falls  in  that 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         205 

of  the  Mistress,  who  by  no  means  approves  Scotch  or  indeed 
British  innovations. 

Some  days  ago  we  were  informed  that  Gen1  Moor  with 
1500  or  2000  men  had  marched  down  the  country,  having 
resolved  to  take  the  fort,  and  with  the  cannon  they  expected 
to  find  in  it,  take  also  the  Cruiser,  the  Govr  and  the  whole 
covey  of  tories  he  had  with  him.  The  fort  indeed  was  no  hard 
conquest;*  but  the  Govr  some  how  or  other  having  a  hint  of 
the  design,  had  taken  out  the  cannon,  which  with  the  garri- 
son, viz*  Cap1  Colletf  and  his  three  servants,  were  now 
aboard  the  Cruiser.  However  they  did  burn  this  mighty  place 
of  strength,  together  with  the  houses  belonging  to  it ;  but  not 
stopping  there,  they  wantonly  destroyed  the  corn  and  burnt 
the  houses  of  several  planters,  who  had  at  times  been  useful 
to  those  aboard  the  frigate.  This  we  were  informed  of  by  a 
Gentleman  who  was  making  his  escape  from  the  country,  and 
called  on  us  in  his  way.$  He  further  informed  us,  that  he  and 
the  other  Gentlemen  who  had  armed  and  formed  themselves 
into  two  companies  for  the  defence  of  the  town,  had  been 
ordered  out  on  this  duty  of  burning  the  fort,  but  that  they 
having  all  refused,  were  now  ordered  to  stand  trial  for 
mutiny  and  desertion,  but  had  refused  to  submit.  This,  he 
said,  was  all  done  in  consequence  of  a  letter  received  from 
the  grand  congress,  in  which  they  were  accused  of  having 
done  nothing  to  show  the  side  they  had  espoused.  I  therefore 
make  no  doubt  every  step  will  be  taken  to  show  (at  least) 
their  zeal  by  the  abuse  of  their  fellow-subjects.  But  as  every 

*  The  fort  was  attacked  and  burned  July  19,  1775.  Governor  Martin's 
account  of  this  event  can  be  read  in  his  letter  to  Dartmouth,  of  July  20; 
that  of  the  Wilmington  Committee  in  their  resolution  of  July  21  (N.  C.  R. 
X,  107-109,  113-115.  Cf.  140).  The  two  versions  show  how  hopeless  was  any 
prospect  of  a  reconciliation  between  the  contending  parties  at  this  time. 

f  For  Captain  Collet,  see  Appendix  XIV. 

j  The  gentleman  referred  to  was  Robert  Hogg,  who  left  Wilmington  in 
July  (see  Appendix  XII).  One  of  those  who  had  been  ordered  out  "on  this 
duty  of  burning  the  fort"  was  his  partner,  Samuel  Campbell,  whose  state- 
ment before  the  Loyalist  Claims  Commission  confirms  what  Miss  Schaw  says 
here  (see  below,  p.  324). 


206     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

body  is  getting  off  as  fast  as  possible,  they  will  not  have 
many  objects  to  vent  their  fury  on. 

Mr  Neilson  was  so  ill  that  he  was  again  forced  to  come 
ashore  for  a  few  days  to  recover  a  little.  He  has  no  place  to 
sleep  in  aboard,  but  lies  on  the  quarter-deck  in  his  hammock, 
as  do  many  more  Gentlemen,  as  it  is  quite  crouded.  He  left 
us  this  day.  Mr  Rutherfurd  sometimes  comes  down,  but  sel- 
dom, nor  stays  above  a  day  or  two,  which  is  very  prudent 
every  way.  His  daughter  has  not  been  well  to  day,  and  been 
forced  to  keep  her  bed.  I  fear  she  is  in  for  the  fever  and  ague. 
She  is  now  asleep,  and  tho'  it  is  struck  one,  I  will  watch  by 
her  till  she  waken,  as  I  am  not  a  little  anxious  about  her. 
Farewell,  I  go  to  my  charge. 

Never  was  any  thing  more  fortunate  than  poor  Neilson's 
leaving  this  [place]  yesterday,  had  he  remained,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  his  sorrow  and  anxieties  would  by  this 
[time]  have  been  over,  a  circumstance  of  much  less  conse- 
quence to  himself  than  his  friends,  in  which  number  I  must 
ever  rank  myself,  or  be  a  most  ungrateful  wretch,  as  he  has 
been  to  me  as  a  brother,  ever  since  we  became  acquainted. 
Judge  then  what  I  must  have  suffered  to  have  seen  a  man  of 
so  much  worth  murdered  before  my  eyes  for  doing  his  duty 
to  his  King,  his  country,  and  if  any  thing  can  be  above  these 
sacred  names,  his  friend.  I  wrote  you  in  a  former  packet  that 
some  Scotch  Gentlemen  had  come  down  from  the  back  settle- 
ments with  offers  to  the  Govr  of  raising  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  men,  provided  the  Govr  could  obtain  for  their  use, 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  that  he  would  give  such  commis- 
sions as  empowered  them  to  act  in  it  with  safety.  This  last 
part  was  immediately  agreed  to,  and  as  to  the  first,  he  sent 
off  an  express  to  the  commander  in  chief,  and  makes  no  doubt 
the  request  will  be  complied  with,  and  with  these  assurances 
the  Gentlemen  returned  to  their  friends. 

The  commissions  were  prepared  as  fast  as  possible,  also  a 
copy  of  the  King's  proclamation  with  an  additional  one 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         207 

from  the  Govr,*  offering  pardon  to  whoever  would  return, 
and  reward  to  whoever  joined  the  Royal  party.  These  fin- 
ished, an  English  groom,  who  was  the  same  that  had  escaped 
the  tar  and  feather,  and  who  was  a  most  expert  rider,  was 
mounted  on  a  fine  English  hunter,  the  commissions  put  into 
the  travelling  bags  before  him,  under  cover  of  his  own  linens, 
and  fixed  to  the  crupper;  in  a  leather  case  were  the  two  proc- 
lamations. He  had  made  out  two  days  journey  very  safely, 
when  on  the  third  he  happened  to  pass  by  a  house  where  a 
set  of  officers  and  committee-men  were  baiting  their  horses, 
as  they  were  so  far  on  the  way  to  Hillsburgh,  where  they 
make  their  paper-money  for  the  use  of  the  army.  The  beauty 
of  the  English  mare  took  their  fancy,  and  discovering  who 
the  fellow  was,  were  resolved  to  become  masters  of  her.  But 
he  no  sooner  observed  he  was  pursued,  than  he  quitted  the 
road  and  struck  into  the  woods,  where  trusting  to  the  superior 
swiftness  of  his  mare,  he  put  her  full  speed,  and  in  a  few 
moments  would  have  left  his  pursuers  far  behind,  but,  alas, 
he  was  not  on  New  Market  course.f  A  tree  struck  her  or 
rather  she  a  tree  so  violent  a  blow,  that  she  fell  to  the  ground, 
and  threw  her  unfortunate  rider  with  the  bags,  and  before 
he  could  get  hold  of  the  bridle,  scampered  off  most  unluckily, 
carrying  with  her  the  two  proclamations,  which  were  fixed 
to  the  saddle.  The  fellow  however  had  the  presence  of  mind 
to  bury  the  commissions  in  the  sand,  then  running  to  a  dis- 
tant part  of  the  wood,  he  let  the  bags  lie  on  the  ground,  as  if 
thrown  by  the  mare,  and  laid  himself  down  as  half  killed  by 
the  fall. 

*  Martin  issued  four  proclamations  in  1775:  one  on  March  i,  from  New 
Bern ;  a  second  on  April  3,  also  from  New  Bern ;  a  third  on  June  16,  from 
Fort  Johnston ;  and  a  fourth  on  August  8,  from  on  board  the  Clruizer,  the 
"fiery"  proclamation  ordered  by  the  Wilmington  Committee  to  be  burned  by 
the  hangman.  The  last  is  the  one  to  which  Miss  Schaw  refers.  It  used  to  be 
said  in  Scotland,  in  the  days  of  religious  controversy,  that  when  a  treatise 
was  difficult  to  answer  the  most  convenient  method  was  to  have  it  burned  by 
the  common  hangman. 

f  Newmarket  is  a  town  in  central  England,  on  the  border  line  between 
Cambridgeshire  and  Suffolk,  long  famous  for  its  horse  racing. 


208     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

He  was  now  questioned  and  threatened,  but  would  give  no 
further  account  of  his  business,  than  that  he  was  on  his  way 
to  quit  the  country  and  begged  them  to  let  him  go;  and  it  is 
probable  they  might  have  agreed,  had  not  some  of  the  party 
gone  in  search  of  the  booty,  which  they  caught  and  found  on 
her  this  dreadful  treasonable  paper.  There  was  now  no  deny- 
ing, so  the  poor  wretch  lost  all  courage,  and  begged  they 
would  not  punish  a  poor  servant  that  was  forced  to  obey  his 
master.  He  fell  on  his  knees  before  his  inexorable  judges  and 
executioners,  for  such  they  would  have  been  had  they  not 
hoped  to  force  more  from  him,  or  at  least  pretend  they  had. 
To  give  a  face  to  their  proceedings,  he  was  now  brought  to 
Wilmingtown,  and  the  proclamation  taken  to  the  Commit- 
tee, where  it  was  read,  and  such  was  the  indignation  it  raised 
in  the  members,  that  they  burnt  it  with  their  own  hands, 
publishing  another  for  themselves;  in  which  they  set  forth 
the  bloody  design  forming  against  them  by  Britain  and  Gov- 
ernor Martin.  As  to  the  prisoner,  he  was  suffered  to  escape ; 
as  a  further  inquiry  might  have  cleared  up  those  points  they 
had  a  mind  to  hide  from  the  multitude  under  very  false 
colours.  Besides  they  had  got  the  Mare,  which  was  a  main 
Article.* 

The  fellow  came  here  in  his  retreat,  where  he  is  taken  care 
of,  and  gave  me  the  above  particulars.  But  he  was  Neilson's 
servant;  the  mare  was  also  his  property,  and  to  crown  all, 
the  Governor's  proclamation  was  found  to  be  his  hand  writ- 

*  The  incident  narrated  by  Miss  Schaw  illustrates  admirably  Martin's 
remark  in  his  letter  of  August  28.  "The  same  ill  fortune  has  attended  my 
latest  attempt  to  counteract  the  design  of  a  Convention  at  this  time  assembled 
at  Hillsborough,  by  a  Proclamation  of  which  your  Lordship  will  receive  a 
copy  forthwith,  the  messengers  employed  to  circulate  it  in  the  country  having 
been  all  intercepted,  which  I  the  more  lament  as  I  think  it  might  have  pro- 
duced good  effects  upon  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  that  I  have  much 
reason  to  apprehend  the  difficulty  of  communication  which  becomes  daily 
greater  and  greater,  will  totally  cut  me  off  from  all  intercourse  with  the 
interior  parts  of  it  hereafter  until  I  am  able  by  force  to  lay  it  open"  (N.  C. 
R.  X,  231-232). 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         209 

ing.  On  this  about  a  dozen  of  the  greatest  brutes  they  had, 
with  two  or  three  of  the  most  worthless  of  the  scoundrels 
received  a  commission  to  go  to  Point  Pleasant  and  search 
for  the  person  of  Archd  Neilson,  with  full  authority  to  put 
the  law  in  execution  in  what  way  they  saw  proper.  By  this 
time  they  were  all  drunk,  and  set  out  about  twelve  at  night 
on  this  humane  expedition.  Fortunately  however  they  were 
such  a  set,  as  were  not  in  use  to  visit  at  this  house,  so  were 
strangers  to  the  way,  after  they  quitted  the  great  road,*  and 
rambled  down  on  other  parts  of  the  wood,  which  brought 
them  on  the  plantation  of  a  Gentleman,  who  tho'  engaged  in 
their  own  party  was  by  no  means  easy  at  these  Midnight 
Visitors.  They  however  explained  the  mistake  sufficiently  to 
convince  him,  that  they  were  very  improper  people  to  pay 
a  visit,  where  they  were  likely  to  behave  in  no  very  delicate 
manner.  He  therefore  readily  gave  them  the  drink  they  de- 
manded of  him,  and  they  were  soon  in  no  condition  to  leave 
his  house,  and  therefore  transferred  their  commission  to  him, 
which  he  faithfully  promised  to  execute  before  morning,  and 
accordingly  I  was  beckened  out,  Miss  Rutherfurd  being  still 
asleep,  and  found  a  Gentleman  he  had  despatched,  as  soon 
as  he  could,  to  give  us  information,  and  to  carry  Neilson,  if 
there,  to  the  committee  with  him ;  who  as  they  would  by  this 
time  be  come  a  little  to  themselves,  would  not  hurry  his  fate. 
He  expressed  great  pleasure  however  at  hearing  he  was  gone, 
for  the  truth  of  which  he  took  my  word,  without  further 
search,  assuring  me  honestly,  that  had  these  people  got  him, 
he  had  never  got  out  of  their  hands  alive,  so  enraged  were 
they  at  his  conduct. 

*  The  "great  road"  was  that  already  noted  from  Wilmington  up  the 
Northeast  and  on  to  Virginia,  via  Heron's  bridge.  "Point  Pleasant"  was 
west  from  the  road,  four  miles  toward  the  river.  The  plantation  referred  to 
in  the  text  was  probably  "Rose  Hill,"  the  owner  of  which,  Parker  Quince, 
son  of  Richard  Quince,  was  living  there  at  the  time  and  must  have  been  the 
gentleman  who,  according  to  Miss  Schaw,  did  not  take  kindly  to  these  mid- 
night raids.  In  his  will  (1785)  Quince  left  "Rose  Hill"  to  his  son.  He  died 
in  England  and  was  buried  in  Ramsgate,  the  home  of  his  fathers. 


2io     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Coffee  was  brought  in,  and  during  breakfast,  he  frankly 
confessed,  they  had  got  some  news  that  had  not  been  agree- 
able, which  had  been  transferred  [transpired,  sic}  by  the 
arrival  of  a  ship  from  Boston.  This  was  a  battle  having  hap- 
pened on  a  place  called  Bunkershill,  where  some  of  the  lines 
had  been  forced  by  the  English.  He  believed  however  they 
had  suffered  more  than  the  Americans.  I  am  glad  however  to 
find  that  we  had  any  advantage,  tho'  not  a  little  uneasy  to 
hear  more  particulars. 

Miss  Rutherfurd  is  now  quite  well ;  an  emetick,  which  was 
far  too  strong,  has  hqwever  removed  every  symptom  for  the 
present.  I  shall  not  be  easy  till  I  go  to  town  to  inquire  the 
particulars  of  this  battle,  which  before  this  you  are  perfectly 
acquainted  with.  I  have  now  been  in  town,  which  is  intirely 
deserted  by  the  Tories,  some  of  whom  are  out  in  the  country, 
and  others  gone  out  of  the  way,  till  this  hurry  of  passion  be 
a  little  settled.  I  have  seen  a  newspaper  published  by  the 
committee's  order,  where  the  whole  story  of  the  battle  is 
denied,  tho'  it  is  said  that  the  Americans  had  made  an  attack 
on  us  and  killed  many  of  our  officers,  amongst  others  they 
mentioned  Major  Pitcairn.  I  hope  it  is  not  the  Pitcairn  that 
was  married  to  a  Miss  Dalrymple,  as  I  know  many  of  her 
relations.*  But  tho'  'tis  all  false  together,  I  hope  the  pub- 
lisher will  be  hanged,  for  they  have  vexed  me,  tho'  I  do  not 
believe  them. 


Aboard  the  Cruizer,  his  Majesty's  Frigate  of  war.f 

Rejoice  with  me,  my  friends,  to  find  me  safe  this  length. 
You  suppose  I  have  fled  from  the  tar-pot.  In  truth  I  am  not 

*  Major  John  Pitcairn,  who  was  killed  at  Bunker  Hill,  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Robert  Dalrymple  of  Annfield  (or  Annefield)  in  Dumfriesshire 
(Anderson,  Scottish  Nation,  III,  291).  So  Miss  Schaw's  worst  fears  were 
realized.  A  petition  from  the  widow,  Elizabeth  Pitcairn,  is  in  Adm.  l.  486. 

f  It  was  in  September  or  October  that  Miss  Schaw,  Fanny  and  the  boys, 
and  Mrs.  Miller  took  refuge  on  board  the  Cruizer.  All  apparently  crossed  the 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         211 

sure  what  might  have  happened,  had  I  stayed  much  longer, 
for  the  ill  humour  was  come  to  a  very  great  height. 

Our  coming  here,  for  we  are  all  here,  is  the  most  extraor- 
dinary thing  that  has  yet  happened,  and  was  so  sudden  and 
surprising,  that  I  am  not  yet  sure,  if  I  am  awake  or  in  a 
dream.  But  I  hope  it  is  no  dream  that  I  have  found  here  a 
large  packet  from  you,  which  I  sincerely  thank  God  did  not 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Committee,  as  your  last  did,  and 
I  am  most  happy  to  find  that  I  am  obeying  you  by  leaving 
this  unhappy  country. 

Before  I  begin  to  fill  up  the  blanks  in  my  Journal,  which 
is  no  less  than  a  whole  month,  suffer  me  to  take  one  look  back 
to  the  unhappy  people  I  have  left,  and  on  whose  conduct  I 
can  now  calmly  reflect,  tho'  on  reflection  it  appears  still  more 
extraordinary.  We  have  often  met  this  sort  of  madness  in 
individuals,  who,  surrounded  with  prosperity,  have  yet  reso- 
lutely determined  to  be  wretched.  Poor  Lady was  a 

strong  instance  of  this;  who  never  would  believe  she  was 
happy,  till  misery  forced  her  to  know  the  state  she  had  for- 
feited. Many  indeed  are  the  instances  of  that  ingratitude  to 
divine  providence  in  single  persons,  but  that  a  whole  empire 
should  be  seized  by  such  a  delirium,  is  most  amazing.  Yet 
I  take  the  view  too  wide,  it  is  not  a  whole  empire,  but  some 
self-interested  wretches,  who  are  endeavouring  to  ruin  this 
royal  first-rate  [vessel]  on  purpose  to  steal  from  the  wreck 
materials  to  build  themselves  boats  with.  But  farewell  un- 
happy land,  for  which  my  heart  bleeds  in  pity.  Little  does 
it  signify  to  you,  who  are  the  conquered  or  who  the  victori- 
ous; you  are  devoted  to  ruin,  whoever  succeeds.  Many  years 

ocean  together,  but  as  there  is  no  mention  of  Mrs.  Miller  and  the  boys  in  the 
account  of  the  Lisbon  sojourn,  it  is  probable  that  they  remained  on  the 
George,  which  seems  to  have  been  chartered  for  the  use  of  the  party  and  so 
to  have  waited  in  Portuguese  waters  until  the  Lisbon  visit  was  over.  That 
the  boys  went  back  to  Scotland  with  Miss  Schaw  and  the  others  is  pretty 
clearly  proved  by  the  remark  on  page  253;  and  if  they  did  so  Mrs.  Miller 
must  have  gone  back  with  them. 


212     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

will  not  make  up  [for]  these  few  last  months  of  depredation, 
and  yet  no  enemy  has  landed  on  their  coast.  Themselves  have 
ruined  themselves;  but  let  me  not  indulge  this  melancholy. 
I  at  present  require  all  my  spirit  to  carry  me  thro'  many 
difficulties. 

I  shall  therefore  without  preface  begin  an  account  of  how 
I  am  so  unexpectedly  here,  for  so  it  was  even  to  me,  however 
much  I  wished  it.  As  I  write  much  at  my  ease,  and  am  in  no 
dread  of  having  my  letters  seen,  I  would  probably  tire  you 
with  my  own  reflections;  but  there  is  a  ship  just  ready  to  sail, 
in  which  we  endeavoured  to  have  taken  our  passage,  but  it  is 
crouded  beyond  any  thing  that  ever  was  seen  with  people 
flying  from  this  land  of  nominal  freedom  and  real  slavery. 
There  is  however  a  fine  Vessel  just  come  in,*  which  we  have 
secured,  but  she  will  not  be  able  to  sail  for  some  time,  as  she 
has  obtained  leave  to  land  the  Emigrants.  They  are  all  out 
of  her  however,  and  we  have  got  her,  and  will  sleep  in  her 
every  Night,  tho'  we  stay  all  day  aboard  the  frigat,  where  we 
meet  the  utmost  friendship  and  kindness.  My  brother  and  Mr 
Rutherfurd  are  both  with  us,  and  our  ship  affords  them  all 
accommodations.  I  shall  write  as  much  as  I  can,  as  this 
packet  will  go  by  the  other  vessel,  and  I  am  certain  will  find 
its  way  safe  to  you.  It  shall  be  addressed  to  the  custom  house. 

About  a  fortnight  ago,  the  Govr  issued  out  an  order  for 
the  members  of  the  assembly  to  meet  him  on  board  the  frigat. 
Mr  Rutherfurd  was  then  in  a  fit  of  the  gout,  yet  went  with- 
out a  shoe  to  obey  the  summons,  and  was  indeed  the  only 
member  that  made  his  appearance. f  This  he  thought  his 

*  Under  date  October  22,  the  master's  log  of  the  Cruizer  says,  "Came  in 
the  ship  George  belonging  to  Glasgow  with  passengers."  The  captain's  log 
reads  "with  emigrants  from  Scotland,"  and  Will  Cruden  in  his  letter  to 
Dartmouth  speaks  of  the  George  as  returning  to  Glasgow  "after  landing 
emigrants  from  Scotland"  (Feb.  20,  1776,  Dartmouth  Papers).  There  is  no 
other  reference  to  this  particular  company  of  emigrants,  but  doubtless  they 
were  Scottish  Highlanders,  of  the  same  class  as  those  already  described  by 
Miss  Schaw. 

f  Miss  Schaw  seems  easily  to  confuse  council  and  assembly.  Of  a  council 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         213 

duty,  tho'  he  made  no  doubt  of  the  consequence  that  would 
attend  it.  On  his  return  he  was  ordered  by  the  Committee  to 
give  up  his  seat  in  the  assembly  [Council],  and  also  to  resign 
into  their  hands  his  commission  as  Receiver  general  of  the 
quit-rents,  and  hold  that  office  in  future  of  the  Congress.  As 
he  was  resolved  to  do  neither,  he  became  very  anxious  in 
regard  to  his  children,  whom  he  feared  he  would  not  long  be 
able  to  protect.  My  brother  too  had  the  same  cause  to  wish 
me  away  safely.  They  had  appointed  him  from  the  first 
Quarter  Master  general  with  a  Colonel's  rank.  He  had  put 
off  giving  any  positive  answer,  till  now  that  they  were  form- 
ing camps,  where  his  duty  was  necessary,  and  he  was  com- 
manded to  attend.  His  plan  is  to  send  Mrs  Schaw  and  her 
children  amongst  her  friends  and  get  out  of  the  way  himself. 
But  this  was  not  a  way  to  secure  me.  Mr  Rutherfurd  and  he 
therefore  agreed  to  our  going  down  to  the  Sound,  and  wait- 
ing the  first  opportunity  either  to  the  West  Indies,  Britain  or 
indeed  any  place  of  peace  and  safety.  Of  this  we  were  not 
told,  till  the  very  night  before  it  was  to  be  put  in  execution, 
for  had  we  been  making  the  least  preparations,  I  would  have 
been  forced  to  find  bail  for  £500,  for  the  expence  of  the  war, 
which  my  brother  wished  to  avoid.  As  to  Fanny  and  her 
brothers,  they  left  sufficient  behind  them.  My  brother  applied 
to  the  Committee  for  himself  and  some  company  to  go  in  his 
boat  on  a  fishing  party  to  the  Sound,  which  was  agreed  to, 
so  in  it  we  set  off  and  went  down  in  this  boat  and  two  canoes, 
above  fifty  miles  on  a  river,  as  broad,  for  part  of  the  way, 
as  the  Queensferry.*  It  was  very  rough  and  the  wind  so  high, 

meeting  at  this  time  (about  October  8  or  10)  there  is  no  trace.  If  held  it 
could  have  left  no  official  record,  as  there  would  not  have  been  a  quorum, 
since  Rutherfurd  was  the  only  one  present  besides  the  governor. 

*  Queensferry  is  a  small  seaport  on  the  Firth  of  Forth,  eight  miles  west 
of  Edinburgh.  South  Queensferry  is  in  Linlithgowshire  and  North  Queens- 
ferry  in  Fifeshire.  A  ferry  at  that  time  and  until  1890  connected  the  two 
places.  The  distance  is  a  mile  and  a  half,  covered  now  by  the  famous  Forth 
bridge. 


214     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

as  to  toss  us  about  at  a  sad  rate,  and  I  do  own,  that  at  that 
moment  I  felt  my  spirits  ready  to  forsake  me  entirely;  but  no 
sooner  found  myself  amongst  friends  and  in  a  snug  birth, 
than  they  returned,  and  I  hope  will  not  again  play  truant. 
Poor  Fanny  however  feels  severely  at  again  leaving  her 
father.  As  to  the  young  rogues,  they  are  perfectly  happy.  My 
heart  suffers  a  severe  pang  in  parting  with  my  poor  brother 
Bob.  Our  acquaintance  has  been  but  short,  but  I  sincerely 
love  him,  and  the  situation  I  leave  him  in  adds  greatly  to  my 
concern. 

We  have  had  a  terrible  work  to  get  some  hard  money.  We 
durst  not  try  for  it  in  town.  We  had  indeed  several  hundred 
pounds  of  paper,  but  that  could  serve  for  no  more  use,  than 
as  so  much  brown  paper,  nor  durst  the  folks  aboard  the 
frigate  part  with  any  that  they  had  got,  as  they  expected 
daily  to  sail,  when  our  paper  would  be  of  no  use  to  them. 
To  our  great  joy  we  find  Mr  Neilson  is  to  bear  us  company, 
and  he  got  a  message  privately  sent  up  to  town,  and  several 
of  our  friends  have  come  on  board  and  brought  us  as  many 
dollars  and  Joes,*  as  have  filled  my  dressing  box,  of  which 
I  am  made  keeper.  At  our  own  request  the  George,  which  is 
the  name  of  our  Vessell  goes  by  Portugal.  I  have  promised 
Mrs  Paisley  a  visit  ever  since  she  was  married,  and  this  is  a 
fine  opportunity.  But  Cap*  Deans  calls  for  this.  Adieu,  shall 

*  The  paper  money  which  Miss  Schaw  had  was  probably  the  old  legal 
tender  of  North  Carolina,  still  in  circulation,  as  no  bills  of  credit  had  been 
issued  since  1761.  Its  exchange  value  with  sterling  at  this  time  was  in  the 
ratio  of  181-177  to  100,  so  that  a  pound  currency  would  buy  only  a  little 
more  than  half  as  much  as  a  pound  sterling.  As  a  rule  colonial  bills  circulated 
but  little  outside  the  colony  which  issued  them.  In  going  to  Lisbon  Miss 
Schaw  would  need  either  bills  of  exchange  or  hard  money.  There  was  no 
time  to  get  the  former  and  the  latter  she  secured  with  difficulty.  What  she 
finally  did  obtain  were  Spanish  silver  dollars  and  Portuguese  gold  Johannes, 
that  is,  "dollars  and  Joes."  The  Spanish  dollar  was  worth  four  shillings  and 
six  pence  sterling,  the  double  Jo.,  seventy-two  shillings,  the  single  Jo., 
thirty-six  shillings,  and  the  half  Jo.,  eighteen  shillings  sterling.  The  Jo.  and 
half  Jo.  were  among  the  commonest  of  the  gold  coins  in  actual  use  among 
the  continental  colonists. 


RESIDENCE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA         215 

I  really  see  you  and  dear  Scotland  once  more?  My  head  turns 
giddy  at  the  thought.  I  am  ready  to  faint.  Oh  my  God !  'tis  a 
sort  of  feeling  I  have  long  been  a  stranger  to. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
Sojourn  in  Lisbon. 


Out  at  Sea. 


E  are  now  fairly  over  the  bar  and  once  more  launched 
on  the  vast  Atlantick.*  We  have  every  reason  to  hope  a 
prosperous  Voyage,  and  every  thing  has  been  done  to  render 
it  an  agreeable  one.  I  know  not  if  I  ought  to  rejoice  that  we 
have  Mr  Neilson  for  our  companion,  as  want  of  health  has 
forced  him  to  leave  the  continent,  and  what  sits  heavier  on 
his  spirit,  his  friend  Govr  Martin,  at  a  time  when  he  wishes 
to  be  near  him,  but  in  his  present  state  of  health,  must  be  a 
trouble  not  an  assistance.  I  have  been  greatly  obliged  to  that 
Gentleman,  ever  since  he  became  my  acquaintance.  His 
attention  has  been  that  of  a  kind  brother,  and  my  gratitude 
is  that  of  a  much  obliged  sister.  Should  he  get  soon  better, 
he  will  (as  far  as  possible)  supply  my  brother  to  me  on  this 
voyage.  His  conversation  is  entertaining  and  instructive,  and 
if  he  recover  his  health,  I  hope  he  will  recover  his  spirits  and 
gain  the  fortitude  necessary  to  his  present  situation,  which  is 
truly  a  hard  one,  as  he  had  very  considerable  emoluments  in 

*  The  George,  Captain  Deans,  sailed  for  Glasgow,  via  Lisbon,  on  Novem- 
ber 10,  1775,  as  recorded  in  the  log  of  the  Cruizcr.  The  only  contemporary 
reference  to  Miss  Schaw's  departure  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  Mrs.  De- 
Rosset  to  John  Burgwin.  "Mr.  Tom  Hooper,"  she  writes,  "went  to  Scotland 
in  a  vessel  with  Miss  Shaw  and  Miss  Rutherfurd,  on  the  way  to  England" 
(James  Sprunt  Historical  Monographs,  no.  4,  p.  28). 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  217 

America,  and  still  higher  prospects,  which  I  fear  will  not  be 
his  again  for  a  long  time.  But  he  is  a  vast  philosopher  and 
often  uses  your  expression  "it  will  be  all  one  a  hundred 
years  hence." 

Mr  Rutherfurd  and  my  brother  Bob  saw  us  over  the  bar — 
a  bitter  parting,  I  do  assure  you,  it  was  on  all  sides ;  poor  Mr 
Rutherfurd  with  all  his  family,  and  my  brother  with  a  lately 
found  and  much  loved  sister.  I  fear  the  Adieu  is  for  ever  and 
for  ever.  Poor  Fanny  was  hardly  able  to  support  it,  nor  has 
she  yet  recovered  from  the  shock.  I  should  think  less  of  my- 
self than  I  do,  did  I  not  feel  severely  for  those  I  leave  be- 
hind; tho'  in  hopes  of  soon  meeting  Objects  dear  to  my  heart 
as  life;  objects  indeed  that  can  only  endear  life  to  me.  Our 
schemes  for  the  present  are  frustrated,  yet  let  us  not  think 
we  are  the  sport  of  fortune.  Dark  as  my  fate  seems  I  sincerely 
believe  that  mercy  ever  triumphs  over  evil,  and  that  a  power- 
ful hand  controls  what  we  call  fate.  To  him  then  let  us 
submit,  and  only  pray  for  that  fortitude,  whose  basis  is  trust 
in  his  goodness  and  omnipotence.  I  do  not  suppose  this  voy- 
age will  furnish  any  thing  new,  but  if  it  should,  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  keep  a  journal  of  it,  as  my  brother  begged  my 
stock  of  writing-materials,  there  being  none  to  be  had  for 
love  or  money.  The  few  sheets  I  now  have  I  will  keep,  till 
we  arrive  at  Portugal,  when  I  will  begin  again  to  write,  not 
to  inform  you  of  what  you  know  so  well  already,  but  a  jour- 
nal of  my  own  thoughts,  ideas  and  apprehensions,  where 
every  thing  is  new  to  me. 

Mr  Neilson  is  very  ill;  Miss  Rutherfurd  not  very  well; 
the  boys  in  good  health,  as  I  am.  We  have  brought  many 
pets,  of  which  number  is  the  bear.  We  were  afraid  he  would 
join  his  brethren  of  the  congress,  and  as  he  has  more  ap- 
parent sagacity,  than  any  of  them,  he  would  be  no  small 
addition  to  their  councils.  Our  Captain  is  a  plain,  sensible, 
worthy  man,  plays  cribbage  and  backgammon  dexterously, 
and  when  our  poor  Messmates  are  better,  we  are  provided  for 


2 18     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Whist.  Our  cabins  and  state-rooms  are  large  and  commo- 
dious, our  provisions  excellent  and  our  liquor  tolerable ;  but 
I  long  for  a  drink  of  Scotch  two  penny,  and  will  salute  the 
first  pint-stoup  I  meet  and  kiss  the  first  Scotch  earth  I  touch. 
A  weight  however  hangs  on  my  heart.  Adieu,  you  shall  hear 
from  me  first  opportunity.  Adieu,  may  our  meeting  be  happy. 

Decemr  4th  1775*  Aboard  the  George  in  the  bay  of 
S*  Tubes. 

Between  ten  and  eleven  at  night,  we  were  hailed  by  a 
pilot-boat,  which  the  Sailors  called  a  bear-cod,  as  it  exactly 
resembles  one.  By  the  Master  we  were  told  that  we  were 
then  just  opposite  to  Lisbon,  and  tho'  it  was  extremely  dark, 
I  was  directly  for  going  aboard  the  boat,  and  making  for  the 
place,  where  my  friends  all  resided,  but  was  not  a  little  sur- 
prised to  be  informed,  that  if  the  boatman  carried  me  ashore, 
he  would  be  hanged  for  his  pains,  and  that  it  was  not  easy 
to  answer  what  would  become  of  myself.  This  brought  on 
an  explanation  of  all  we  must  go  thro'  before  we  landed, 
and  I  was  most  terribly  mortified  that  tho'  so  near  our  port, 
it  would  yet  be  several  days  before  I  could  step  on  terra 
firma.  The  Cap1  also  recollected  that  we  had  got  no  bill  of 
health,  and  we  dreaded  the  horrours  of  a  Lazaretto  ;f  but 
Neilson  happily  was  the  very  officer,  from  whom  we  should 
have  had  our  certificate,  so  having  the  seal  of  office  in  his 
trunk,  ^  he  made  no  scruple  to  antedate  it  a  month  and  some 

*  Probably  "December  4th"  should  be  December  12.  According  to  Miss 
Schaw's  statement,  the  voyage  lasted  thirty-two  days  ("a  month  and  some 
days,"  she  says  elsewhere),  which,  reckoned  from  November  10,  the  date  of 
sailing,  would  bring  the  arrival  at  St.  Tubes  to  December  11  or  12.  As  the 
party  remained  at  St.  Tubes  only  a  few  days  and  reached  Lisbon  on  the  igth, 
it  may  be  that  the  date  of  arrival  should  be  put  as  late  as  the  14th. 

t  A  lazaretto  was  usually  a  pest-house  for  smallpox  and  other  contagious 
diseases,  but  here  is  used  for  quarantine. 

J  Neilson  had  been  appointed  naval  officer  by  Governor  Martin  only  a 
month  or  so  before.  It  is  curious  that  he  should  have  had  the  seal  of  his  office 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  219 


days,  and  to  write  out  a  long  certificate  in  very  handsome 
Latin,  which  our  faces  bore  witness  to. 

Our  fears  of  a  quarantine  were  at  an  end,  and  we  slept 
that  night  in  quietness;  as  we  hoped  to  be  in  port  by  break- 
fast. But  the  wind  coming  against  us,  it  took  up  most  of  the 
day  to  get  forward,  and  we  did  not  get  on  the  coast  till  the 
afternoon,  which  luckily  proved  very  fine,  and  here  I  had 
the  pleasure  of  viewing  an  Italian  sky,  the  beauty  of  which 
you  have  so  often  described  to  me,  and  at  which  I  looked 
with  uncommon  delight,  because  it  brought  back  to  my 
memory,  what  you  have  said  to  me  on  this  and  many  other 
Subjects.  Nor  was  I  entirely  engaged  with  the  heavens;  the 
earth  claimed  part  of  my  attention,  and  the  hills,  the  rocks, 
the  dales,  all  joined  to  please  an  eye  that  had  been  long  de- 
prived of  such  delightful  variety,  and  confined  to  a  dead 
level  or  nodding  black  pines  equally  disagreeable.  The  ver- 
dure just  now  is  most  lovely  and  meets  the  eye  every  where. 
Tho'  this  is  by  no  means  the  sort  of  country  I  took  it  for,  as 
I  have  fancied  to  myself  a  West  India  Island  as  large  as  a 
world,  I  was  vastly  pleased  to  behold  the  noble  buildings  as 
we  sailed  along  the  coast,  till  I  was  informed  by  our  pilot, 
that  they  were,  in  general,  bastiles — oh  sound  of  horror  and 
fear  to  a  British  ear. 

At  last  we  reached  the  bay,  where  we  anchored  within  less 
than  a  mile  of  the  Town  of  S*  Tubes.*  The  scene  altogether 
was  very  lively  and  animating,  particularly  when  joined  to 
the  idea  of  being  once  more  in  Europe.  The  evening  was  fine, 
the  sun  gilding  the  horizon  and  giving  additional  beauty  to 
the  green  hills.  The  sky  was  placid  and  serene — above  fifty 
ships  were  lying  at  Anchor,  and  above  a  hundred  boats  en- 

in  his  trunk.  Were  the  seals  deemed,  as  were  the  papers,  the  private  property 
of  the  incumbent?  It  is  more  likely,  however,  that  his  possession  of  the  seal 
was  something  of  an  accident,  since  he  had  never  actually  entered  upon  the 
duties  of  the  office. 

*  The  name  of  the  seaport  is  Setubal,  called  by  the  French  St.  Ives  and 
by  the  British  St.  Tubes  or  St.  Ubes. 


22O     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

gaged  in  the  sardine  fishing  and  chanting  Vespers.  The  town 
was  full  in  prospect  and  many  windmills  going  above  it, 
which  I  think  a  very  cheerful  object.  The  coast  is  extremely 
bold  and  the  hills  and  high  grounds,  covered  with  wheat  or 
pasture,  looked  so  fresh  that  they  perfectly  cheered  the 
senses. 

But  while  we  were  busy  admiring  this  pleasing  scene,  a 
boat  approached,  which  was  presently  known  to  be  from  the 
custom-house.  There  were  three  or  four  tide-waiters  in  her, 
the  sight  of  whom  set  our  Johns  to  such  cursing  and  mutter- 
ing, that  I  could  not  conceive  what  ailed  them,  till  the  Cap4 
told  me  these  vermine  were  come  to  take  their  Tobacco,  and 
would  not  leave  them  a  single  quid  in  their  pouches.  I  could 
not  wonder  at  their  distress  or  rage  on  this  occasion,  nor  be 
offended  when  they  declared  that  America  was  dam — ly  in 
the  right  to  keep  clear  of  these  land  rats.  These  however  were 
only  the  guards  come  to  prevent  any  being  carried  ashore. 
The  others  came  in  the  morning.  We  have  got  figs,  grapes 
and  most  charming  wine  on  board,  at  which  we  are  sipping  at 
no  allowance.  I  am  charmed  with  the  bells — there  goes  one 
just  now  as  like  our  eight  o'clock  bell  as  it  can  be — clink , 
clink — dear  me  'tis  heartsome.  Good  Night. 

There  has  been  a  general  search  for  Tobacco,  our  Johns 
laid  down  there  quids  with  a  sneer  that  fully  convinces  me 
they  have  not  lost  all  their  comfort  that  way.  Tho'  the  peo- 
ple who  came  on  board  made  but  a  scurvy  personal  appear- 
ance, I  found  a  vast  difference  between  their  manners,  and 
those  in  the  same  station  at  home.  They  were  actually  dis- 
tressed when  they  saw  Ladies  and  made  a  thousand  apolo- 
gies. As  Mr  Neilson  speaks  every  European  language,  we 
were  informed  of  whatever  we  wished  to  know  thro'  his 
means.  But  tho'  he  made  the  tour  of  Europe  a  few  years 
ago,  he  never  was  in  Portugal,  so  is  a  stranger  to  their  cus- 
toms. He  is  particularly  distressed  about  getting  ashore, 
which,  these  people  say,  cannot  be  for  three  or  four  days. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  221 

I  plainly  see  he  is  to  take  such  a  charge  of  us,  as  will  tease 
his  life — Lord  help  him,  he  little  knows  how  perfectly  easy 
I  am,  and  more  inclined  to  laugh  than  cry  at  the  little  acci- 
dents we  meet  with  on  this  journey.  Oh  my  friend!  that  I 
had  no  more  to  distress  me — but  let  us  not  repine  nor  quarrel 
with  the  wise  ceconomy  we  ought  to  adore.  "Tis  in  our  own 
breasts  that  the  events  of  fate  must  take  their  colour.  The 
reception  they  meet  with  and  the  turn  they  take  there,  con- 
stitute them  good  or  evil.  One  thing  I  am  at  least  sure  of, 
that  if  you  are  happy,  I  never  can  be  miserable. 

I  was  interrupted  by  a  message  informing  me  that  the 
officers  of  health  and  of  the  holy  Inquisition  were  just  com- 
ing aboard — also  that  the  Proconsul  begged  the  honour  of 
waiting  on  the  English  Ladies.  Tho'  the  Inquisition  has  now 
lost  its  sting,  there  is  still  an  horrour  in  the  sound,  and,  Miss 
Rutherfurd  says,  I  grew  pale  at  the  name.  I  had  no  reason 
however.  In  place  of  a  stern  Inquisitor,  came  a  smiling  young 
Priest,  who,  I  fancy,  would  render  penance  pretty  easy  for 
some  of  us,  were  he  chosen  Father  confessor  properly.  Our 
healths  were  taken  for  granted,  and  our  chests  tho'  opened, 
were  not  searched.  On  opening  my  chest,  I  observed  a  piece 
of  excellent  self -attention  in  Mrs  Miller,  who  had  been  told, 
that  if  a  Bible  was  found,  the  person  who  owned  it,  would 
be  sent  to  the  Inquisition.  She  had  one  in  folio,  which  she 
had  transferred  to  our  chest,  and  taken  no  care  to  conceal  it. 
However  it  was  taken  no  notice  of.  The  proconsul  spoke 
very  good  French,  and  our  priest  conversed  with  Mr  Neilson 
in  Italian.  They  drank  tea  with  us,  and  after  making  the 
Cap*  sign  to  a  set  of  most  curious  articles  for  himself  and  his 
crew,  they  left  us  at  full  liberty  to  go  ashore  when  we 
pleased,  and  to  carry  our  trunks  (which  they  marked)  un- 
molested by  further  search.  I  made  Neilson  translate  the 
Articles  signed  by  the  Cap1,  mate  and  himself,  some  of  which 
were  as  follows.  That  the  said  officers  or  none  of  the  crew 
shall  insult  any  female  they  chance  to  meet.  Item,  that  they 


222     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

shall  take  off  their  hats  to  the  clergy,  and  not  affront  them 
in  any  way;  that  they  shall  kneel  at  the  elevation  of  the 
host;  that  they  shall  in  no  way  insult  the  cross,  whereever 
set  up,  by  making  [water],  but  however  urgent  their  Neces- 
sities may  be,  shall  retain  the  same,  till  at  a  proper  and  law- 
ful distance.  Many  more  equally  important  were  set  down 
and  signed. 

Neil  son,  who  went  on  shore  with  our  Visitors,  has  re- 
turned and  informs  us  he  has  by  their  means  got  us  excellent 
lodgings,  and  that  we  are  to  eat  meat  to  morrow  on  shore, 
tho'  this  is  a  season  of  strict  fasting.  He  has  given  us  a  most 
ludicrous  account  of  the  Lady  who  is  to  receive  us ;  a  Senora 
Maria,  who  has  said  so  many  handsome  things  to  him,  that 
he  is  quite  afraid  of  her.  He  has  told  her  however  he  is  mar- 
ried, and  his  wife  comes  ashore  with  him.  I  fancy  he  found 
this  necessary,  and  I  am  to  take  him  under  my  protection. 

They  assure  me  the  packet  will  sail  from  Lisbon  in  a  few 
days,  and  I  will  get  this  sent  you.  You  will  see  by  my  writ- 
ing, we  had  a  good  voyage,  tho'  I  forgot  to  tell  you  so.  We 
were  just  thirty  two  days,  the  blinds  were  never  up,  nor  were 
we  incommoded,  tho'  we  had  a  fresh  breeze  thro'  the  whole 
Voyage. 

We  dined  yesterday  with  Senora  Maria,  a  squat  sallow 
dame  between  forty  and  fifty,  but  such  an  Amarosa  in  her 
manner,  that  Neilson  required  the  presence  of  his  supposed 
wife  to  save  him  from  the  warmth  of  her  caresses,  which,  to 
say  the  truth,  she  bestowed  on  us  all,  embracing  and  clasping 
us  till  we  were  half  suffocated.  But  this  was  not  the  worst  of 
it:  she  brought  her  maid  to  pay  her  compliments.  She  was 
just  Don  Quixote's  Maratornious  [Maritornes],*  with  her 

*  The  description  of  Maritornes  in  Don  Quixote  (ch.  xvi)  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  "An  Asturian  wench,  broad  faced,  flat-headed,  with  a  little  nose,  one 
eye  squinting  and  the  other  not  much  better.  It  is  true,  the  elegance  of  her 
form  made  amends  for  other  defects.  She  was  not  seven  hands  high ;  and  her 
shoulders,  which  burdened  her  a  little  too  much,  made  her  look  down  to  the 
ground  more  than  she  would  willingly  have  done."  Hogarth  gives  us  a 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  223 

jacket  and  rouff-eye;  have  not  seen  such  an  animal.  She 
would  measure  half  as  much  again  round,  as  from  head  to 
foot.  Her  bushy  black  hair  was  frizled  up,  which  with  her 
little  winking  eyes  and  cock-nose  made  a  most  complete 
appearance.  I  trembled  for  her  embraces,  as  the  effluvia  of 
the  kitchen  were  very  strong,  but  happily  she  was  more 
humble  than  her  dame,  for  she  squatted  down  and  clasped 
us  round  the  knees,  kissing  our  feet,  which  we  permitted  her 
to  do  without  raising  her  to  our  arms,  as  it  seems  we  ought 
to  have  done.  Senora  took  much  pains  to  inform  us  she  was 
no  publican,  only  kept  a  house  of  accommodation  for  her 
friends,  in  which  number  she  did  us  the  honour  to  consider 
us.  This  would  have  surprised  an  Englishman,  but  I,  who 
had  been  used  to  such  friendships,  thought  it  not  stranger 
than  that  of  the  bridge  of  Tay,  with  many  more  in  your 
country,  where  I  have  been  treated  as  a  friend  with  very 
little  ceremony,  and  paid  very  decent  or  rather  indecent  bills 
for  meat  and  drink,  of  which  I  had  the  smallest  share. 

Dinner  over,  we  went  to  view  the  town,  which  has  been 
once  magnificent,  but  is  now  almost  entirely  a  ruin,  partly 
owing  to  the  dreadful  earthquake,*  and  partly  owing  to  the 
still  more  horrid  effects  of  despotism.  Here  I  beheld  the 
remains  of  the  palace  of  the  Duke  de  Alvara,  a  most  noble 
ruin.  His  fate  you  know  well,  and  I  dare  say  we  both  join  in 
thinking  that  he  and  his  son  the  Marquis  deserved  every 
severity;  for  it  is  past  a  doubt,  that  they  made  an  attempt  on 
the  life  of  their  sovereign — a  crime  that  admits  of  no  pallia- 
tion.f  Yet  as  Voltaire  most  justly  observes,  there  is  no  crime 

picture  of  Maritornes  in  one  of  his  scenes  illustrating  Don  Quixote.  Miss 
Schaw  may  have  seen  this  print. 

*  The  great  earthquake  occurred  on  November  i,  1755,  just  twenty  years 
before  Miss  Schaw's  arrival. 

fThe  Duke  of  Aveiro  (Joseph  Mascarenhas),  1708-1759,  with  the  mar- 
quess and  marchioness  of  Tavora,  their  two  sons,  and  four  or  five  others, 
were  executed  in  1759  for  an  attempt  on  the  life  of  King  Joseph  I,  Septem- 
ber 3,  1758.  The  duke  and  the  marquess  were  broken  on  the  wheel,  their 
bodies  consumed  by  fire,  and  their  ashes  thrown  into  the  sea ;  the  marchioness 


224     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

however  great,  but  we  lose  sight  of,  when  the  punishment  is 
extended  beyond  the  limits  of  humanity.  Thus  the  memory 
of  these  two  parricides  would  have  been  held  in  utter  detesta- 
tion, had  they  alone  suffered  death;  but  when  we  see  the 
venerable  Dutchess,  the  two  amiable  youths  not  yet  eighteen 
years  old  suffering  the  same  dreadful  fate,  tho'  entirely  inno- 
cent, nature  revolts,  and  will  no  longer  term  it  justice,  but 
diabolical  barbarity.  Nor  does  it  appear  less  shocking  to  find 
the  impotence  of  power  extend  to  objects  incapable  of  feel- 
ing or  understanding  punishment — one  infant  daughter  ren- 
dered infamous  and  shut  up  in  a  convent  to  [serve  in]  the 
lowest  offices;  ashes  strewn  in  the  air;  one  palace  torn  down 
and  the  ground  salted,  another  entirely  ruined,  tho'  the  walls 
yet  remain  so  far  as  to  let  you  observe  how  great  this  un- 
happy family  once  were,  and  whose  fate  is  silently  regretted 
by  their  country.  You  know  the  exclusion  of  the  Jesuits 
followed  this  affair,  and  with  them  fell  the  power  of  the 
Inquisition.* 

We  visited  several  churches,  which  are  now  decorating  for 

was  decapitated,  the  ducal  palace  pulled  down,  and  the  family  and  even  the 
name  of  Tavora  obliterated  as  far  as  possible.  The  cruelty  of  the  sentences 
and  the  torture  which  accompanied  the  execution  of  the  principal  conspira- 
tors, as  well  as  the  "grand  affair"  itself,  made  a  great  stir  at  the  time  and 
the  details  must  have  been  well  known  to  Miss  Schaw.  No  one  who  has  ever 
read  the  contemporary  accounts  of  the  scene  at  the  scaffold  at  Belem,  as 
printed,  for  example,  in  the  Universal  Magazine,  XXIV,  96-99,  which  Miss 
Schaw  might  well  have  seen,  can  ever  forget  the  harrowing  details  of  the 
spectacle.  There  were  two  palaces,  one  at  Setubal  and  the  other  at  Lisbon. 
From  Miss  Schaw's  account  neither  would  seem  to  have  been  entirely 
destroyed. 

*  A  recent  historian  of  Portugal  says  of  the  plot,  "Whatever  the  real 
origin  of  this  plot  may  have  been,  it  resulted  in  the  king  being  waylaid  and 
wounded,  and  in  the  execution  of  some  of  the  most  prominent  nobles  of 
Portugal.  It  seems  not  impossible,  in  view  of  the  repetition  of  the  incident 
ten  months  later  that  Pombal  [see  page  236,  note]  by  these  'popish  plots' 
was  killing  his  two  birds  with  one  stone,  so  as  to  strengthen  his  influence 
with  the  king  by  disgracing  the  great  nobles  who  were  jealous  of  his  power 
and  by  discrediting  the  Jesuits,  whose  reputation  and  record  would  certainly 
render  them  responsible.  In  1759  the  Society's  estates  were  confiscated  and 
its  members  expelled"  (Portugal,  An  Historical  Study,  by  George  Young, 
P-  195). 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  225 

Christmas — the  Virgin  is  dressing  out,  and  is  sometimes  very 
pretty,  tho'  at  other  times  most  gloriously  ridiculous.  Some 
of  the  churches  are  truly  fine,  but  the  images  are  in  general 
paltry  and  no  fine  paintings  in  any  of  those  I  have  seen. 
But  we  have  an  invitation  to  a  convent  of  Missionaries  to 
morrow,  where  they  tell  me  every  thing  is  noble,  and  they 
are  rich  tho'  beggars  by  profession.  It  will  not  be  easy  for  the 
sailors  to  observe  strictly  the  articles  of  not  affronting  the 
cross,  for  they  [the  crosses]  are  so  close  on  each  other,  that 
it  will  hardly  be  in  their  power  to  keep  clear  of  offence. 
Indeed  the  profusion  of  emblems  of  the  most  sacred  of  all 
subjects  shocks  me  greatly.  You  find  it  over  the  doors  of 
places  for  the  vilest  uses.  You  see  the  most  horrid  violation 
of  it,  wherever  you  turn  your  eyes,  and  one  would  think  it 
was  set  up  by  Turks  or  Jews,  as  a  standing  ridicule  and 
reproach  on  a  religion  they  despised  and  disbelieved.  It  is  not 
here  I  would  be  converted  to  the  Catholick  faith,  as  it  is  no 
better  than  a  puppet  show. 

I  must  tell  you  an  anecdote  of  our  hostess  Maria.  As  she 
carried  us  thro'  a  very  disorderly  and  dirty  house,  we  at  last 
arrived  at  a  sort  of  lumber  room,  where  stood  a  large  cloth 
press.  She  put  on  a  solemn  look,  and  bade  Neilson  inform  us 
we  were  in  her  private  chapel,  that  she  was  not  rich,  but  what 
she  had  to  spare  she  bestowed  on  her  God.  I  approved  of  the 
object  of  her  liberality,  but  could  observe  nothing  in  her 
chapel  worthy  the  acceptance  of  a  much  lower  person.  But 
on  opening  the  above  mentioned  press,  we  were  struck  with  a 
view  of  the  Virgin  and  her  son  in  figures,  not  much  above  the 
length  of  my  middle  finger,  attended  with  a  croud  of  Lillipu- 
tian saints,  who  were  gayly  dressed,  and  stood  on  each  side 
in  decent  order.  A  folding  up  altar  was  then  let  down,  on 
which  was  displayed  every  utensil  necessary  for  devotion  in 
minature,  the  whole  making  a  very  pretty  baby  house. 
Senora  Maria  kneeled  and  crossed  herself  most  devotely,  in 
which  the  good  breeding  of  Mr  Neilson  accompanied  her. 


226     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

I  made  a  slight  obeisance,  but  Fanny  viewed  the  whole  with 
the  utmost  contempt.  No  sooner  was  it  shut  up,  than  the 
Vivacity  of  Senora  returned,  and  pulling  out  the  drawers 
under  this  model  of  a  Romish  Church,  she  displayed  her 
Wardrobe,  of  which  she  was  not  a  little  vain,  then  making 
us  a  present  of  some  artificial  crosses,  she  led  us  to  the  fur- 
ther corner  of  the  chapel,  where  was  fitted  up  a  great  number 
of  wicker  baskets  for  sale,  extremely  pretty,  of  which  we 
purchased  several.  Were  I  sufficiently  in  cash,  I  could  buy 
many  things  here  vastly  cheap.  Some  money  I  will  venture 
to  lay  out;  as  at  Lisbon  I  am  sure  of  credit.  But  were  not 
that  the  case,  I  should  feel  a  pang  every  time  I  unlocked  my 
little  cash-chest,  which  contains  a  large  sum  for  a  poor 
refugee,  and  of  which  I  never  dare  lose  sight,  having  no  very 
high  idea  of  Portugueze  honesty.  The  bed-chambers  at 
Maria's  were  so  dirty  that  we  could  not  stay  in  them.  Neil- 
son  indeed  was  so  resolute  to  have  us  go  on  board  to  sleep, 
that  I  could  not  help  thinking,  he  was  afraid  to  be  from 
under  my  protection  at  that  season  [that  is,  at  night],  when 
I  could  not  so  cleverly  keep  up  the  character  of  wife. 

We  leave  Sl  Tubes  to  morrow  morning,  and  are  to  proceed 
to  Lisbon — but  tho'  no  great  journey,  the  manner  of  our 
travelling  has  been  a  work  of  no  little  trouble  to  Mr  Neil- 
son,  whose  goodness  and  attention  knows  no  bounds.  What 
must  have  become  of  us  without  him*?  I  think  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  have  gone  on.  Yet  I  am  often  vexed  at 
his  anxiety,  for  as  he  is  hurt  by  our  smallest  inconveniency, 
he  is  for  ever  uneasy,  as  such  accidents  must  constantly  occur 
in  our  present  situation.  Our  mode  of  travelling  has  been  a 
source  of  great  distress,  as  no  other  carriage  was  to  be  had, 
but  that  of  a  pack-saddle  fixed  on  the  back  of  either  an  ass 
or  a  mule.  For  my  part  I  had  just  been  contemplating  the 
ease  with  which  a  set  of  market  women  was  moving  along 
and  admiring  their  mounterrara  caps,*  when  he  entered  the 

*  Mounterrara  caps,  Spanish  montera,  were  hunting  caps  made  of  cloth, 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  227 

room,  and  in  the  greatest  vexation  told  me,  he  believed  I 
would  not  get  to  Lisbon.  On  being  informed  of  the  where- 
fore, I  assured  him  that  should  not  prevent  my  Journey,  as 
I  thought  the  pack  saddle  as  pretty  a  method  of  travelling  as 
any  I  had  seen.  What!  Miss  Rutherfurd  and  me  on  pack 
saddles !  Be  it  ever  so  easy  a  method,  he  would  not  submit 
to  see  us  in  such  a  style.  I  begged  him  to  consider  that  we 
had  no  dignity  to  support  at  Sl  Tubes,  and  that  the  disgrace 
of  the  pack  saddle  would  be  entirely  washed  away  before  we 
got  to  Britain.  Nothing  could  reconcile  him  to  it  however, 
and  telling  me  adventures  did  better  in  theory  than  practice, 
he  went  off  with  a  priest,  who  soon  procured  him  the  calash 
of  a  noble  Lady,  who  is  banished  from  court  to  this  place, 
for  having  privately  married  without  the  King's  consent  a 
brave  officer,  who  is  confined  in  one  of  the  Neighbouring 
bastiles,  and  it  is  supposed  he  will  be  put  to  death.  As  her 
relations  are  very  powerful,  she  has  offered  to  shut  herself  up 
in  a  Monastery,  and  make  over  all  her  fortune  to  the  court, 
if  they  will  pardon  him.  Oh  Britons,  Britons,  little  do  you 
know  your  own  happiness! 

This  affair  settled,  we  went  round  the  churches,  which  are 
this  day  finished.  The  new  dresses  of  the  Virgin  are  all  in 
the  British  taste,  white  and  silver,  and  blue  and  silver  are 
the  favourites.  But  at  one  church  she  had  on  a  tie-wig — but 
why  am  I  describing  to  you  what  you  are  so  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with;  yet  allow  me  to  say  that  I  could  not  have 
believed  it  possible  to  have  turned  the  plain,  the  noble  and 
rational  worship  ordained  by  its  blessed  Author  into  such  a 
farce,  as  is  acting  here  at  this  moment,  nor  can  I  believe  the 
Actors  are  not  in  general  laughing  at  themselves.  We  have 
made  several  acquaintances  with  priests,  whom  I  like  very 
well,  and  one  of  them  is  so  much  pleased  with  our  company, 
that  he  has  not  found  the  way  to  his  convent  since  our 

which,  though  originally  used  by  mountaineers,  came  to  be  the  common  head- 
gear of  the  peasant  people  of  Spain. 


228     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

arrival.  He  stays  at  a  Mr  G — 's,  an  English  merchant,  who 
politely  carried  us  to  his  house,  and  introduced  us  to  his 
sister,  who  tho'  married  to  a  Portugueze  husband,  takes  all 
the  liberties  of  a  British  wife.*  We  have  found  her  however 
a  very  good  companion,  and  as  she  knows  every  body  are 
much  the  better  for  her.  Our  pere  Francis  is  a  jolly  round- 
faced,  round-belly' d  father  in  grace.  A  certain  young  Ameri- 
can engages  however  his  attention  at  present  as  much  as  his 
holy  Mistress ;  not  that  he  neglects  his  duty  to  her,  far  from 
it — he  gets  up  every  now  and  then  even  from  cards,  and 
running  to  a  lamp  and  Mass-book,  which  lie  ready,  he  re- 
peats his  Ave  Marias  as  fast  as  possible,  and  then  returns  to 
the  object  of  his  present  adoration,  and  begging  her  pardon, 
shrugs  up  his  shoulders,  saying  these  things  must  be  done. 
This  father,  whose  vows  tie  him  down  to  poverty  and  morti- 
fication, wears  his  robes  round  his  middle  very  gracefully, 
his  cowl  hangs  back  in  a  careless  manner,  and  shows  a  jolly, 
comely  countenance.  He  eats  monstrously  and  drinks  a 
tumbler  of  wine  to  wash  down  every  three  or  four  mouthfuls, 
and  by  the  time  dinner  is  over,  is  fit  for  any  frolick  you 
please.  Yet  he  has  a  sort  of  decency  of  manner,  and  in  the 
midst  of  a  very  foolish  conduct,  has  a  sobriety  in  his  looks, 
which  is  not  the  case  with  them  all. 

One  in  particular  at  whose  convent  we  yesterday  paid  a 
visit,  is  a  perfect  light-headed  Oxonian.  He  was  so  trans- 
ported at  seeing  us  at  the  convent,  that  he  lost  sight  of  his 
character,  fell  on  his  knees  and  embraced  ours,  to  our  no 
small  surprise  and  confusion.  He  then  ran  for  the  superior, 
with  whose  looks  I  was  indeed  quite  charmed,  and  involun- 

*  To  take  all  the  liberties  of  a  British  wife  meant  a  good  deal  in  Portu- 
gal, where  at  this  time  the  wives  of  the  better  classes  rarely  left  their  homes 
to  appear  in  public  places  or  to  share  in  the  social  life  of  the  men.  Pombal 
tried  to  relieve  women  somewhat  of  their  ennui,  due  (as  was  commonly 
said)  to  masculine  jealousy,  but  even  he  failed  in  his  main  object  and  was 
obliged  to  contrive  pleasures  that  could  be  enjoyed  by  the  women  alone 
among  themselves. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  229 

tarily  paid  him  that  respect,  I  could  not  believe  any  of  his 
order  could  have  deserved.  Nay,  so  much  reverence  did  this 
old  man  of  seventy  nine  inspire,  that  I  seriously  begged  his 
benediction,  and  found  myself  affected  by  the  benevolent 
solemnity  with  which  he  bestowed  it  on  me.  Our  gay  priest 
provided  a  collation  for  us,  which  he  produced  and  placed 
without  ceremony  on  one  of  the  low  altars  that  adorned  this 
church,  which  is  indeed  a  very  fine  one,  and  has  some  good 
paintings  and  images,  particularly  one  of  our  Lady  of  Sor- 
row, placed  under  a  large  crucifix,  which  I  think  as  affect- 
ingly  beautiful  as  the  fancy  of  any  Artist  could  produce.  But 
the  image  on  the  cross,  appears  more  calculated  to  inspire 
horror  than  either  love  or  devotion.  Nor  are  you  ever  shown 
this  amiable  pattern  of  all  human  perfection  from  his  child- 
hood, till  he  appears  in  the  attitude  of  agony  and  extreme 
misery.  This  is  doubtless  owing  to  the  dark  superstition 
peculiar  to  the  people  of  this  country,  where  religion  is  held 
as  a  whip  over  slaves,  and  every  individual  has  a  court  of 
Inquisition  within  his  own  breast.  They  figure  the  merciful 
father  of  his  creatures,  dark,  gloomy  and  inexorable  as  the 
first  Inquisitors.  That  this  does  not  prevail  in  every  Roman 
Catholick  country  is  certain;  of  which  the  fine  paintings  I 
have  seen  copied  are  a  proof,  where  we  see  that  divine  figure 
often  delineated  in  the  act  of  pardon  and  mercy,  with  a 
countenance  that  inspires  the  beholder  with  love,  gratitude 
and  adoration — in  those  there  might  be  danger,  but  in  noth- 
ing I  have  seen  here. 

We  slept  last  night  in  an  apartment  in  the  Duke  de 
Alvara's  palace.  Luckily  we  did  not  know  where  we  were  till 
the  morning,  otherwise  that  most  unfortunate  noble  family 
would  have  haunted  our  dreams.  Tho'  the  place  where  we 
were  is  part  of  the  vast  building,  yet  it  seems  to  have  been 
only  apartments  for  the  domesticks,  as  it  enters  differently 
from  the  palace,  but  has  been  itself  most  magnificent,  and 
is  now  occupied  by  the  English  Gentleman,  whom  I  before 


230     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

mentioned,  and  he  is  making  it  very  neat.  But  the  grand 
apartments  where  the  family  resided  are  under  the  sentence 
of  infamy,  the  windows  built  up  and  no  one  suffered  to 
enter.  The  earthquake  did  it  no  harm,  and  there  still  remains 
a  noble  balcony  covered  with  lead  round  the  whole,  which 
is  longer  than  our  Abbey  of  Holyrood  house.  Also  the  ruins 
of  a  vinary  at  least  a  thousand  feet  in  length,  where  they  had 
grapes  all  the  year.  The  gardens  and  fish-ponds  have  been 
noble  and  extensive,  they  are  now  turned  into  vineyards,  and 
let  out  to  tenants.  Tho'  treason  is  a  crime  of  so  high  a  nature 
as  to  admit  of  no  palliation,  yet  we  must  regret  that  such  a 
family  committed  a  crime  to  deserve  such  punishments. 
Adieu,  till  I  write  from  Lisbon,  which  I  certainly  will  the 
first  packet.  I  have  just  got  a  letter  from  Mrs  Paisley  in 
return  to  one  I  wrote  her.  It  is  impossible  to  say  whether  her 
pleasure  or  surprise  is  strongest.  Her  affection  however  is 
most  expressive,  and  I  am  sure  my  heart  feels  it. 

Lisbon  Decemr  the  20th 

We  got  here  last  Night  thro'  many  adventures,  and  are 
now  as  happy  as  the  most  amiable  and  most  affectionate  of 
friends  can  make  us.  But  I  will  go  on  in  proper  form  and 
begin  with  our  journey,  which  proved  a  perfect  comic- 
tragedy,  and  I  was  often  at  a  loss,  whether  to  cry  or  laugh. 
We  set  out  in  the  calash  of  the  noble  Lady,  which  was  really 
a  neat  one,  drawn  by  two  excellent  Mules  and  conducted  by 
a  postilion,  whose  head  would  be  an  object  of  envy  to  the 
first  Macaronic  in  Britain.  But  our  excellent  governor  [Neil- 
son]  was  so  happy  at  getting  us  properly  accommodated, 
that  he  forgot  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  left  it  to  a  Mule- 
teer to  provide  three  Mules — one  for  our  baggage,  another 
for  a  scoundrel  of  a  chetsarona  [cicerone]  and  a  third  for 
himself,  begging  only  that  he  might  get  a  common  saddle  not 
a  pack  one.  He  got  a  saddle  indeed,  but  not  a  common  one, 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  231 

for  it  was  an  old  French  pique,  that  had  not  felt  the  air  for 
fifty  years,  with  a  rusty  stirrup  at  one  side  and  a  wooden 
box  at  the  other  to  thrust  his  foot  in. 

The  muleteer  placed  the  baggage  on  the  best  mule.  Our 
chetsarona  had  the  next  choice,  while  the  old  pique  was 
placed  on  the  back  of  a  mule,  which  to  his  natural  perverse- 
ness  had  added  the  positive  humours  of  at  least  five  and 
twenty  years  experience,  and  guessing  we  were  about  to 
ascend  the  mountain,  absolutely  refused  to  move.  In  vain 
did  his  unfortunate  rider  make  his  back  resound  with  kicks ; 
he  was  insensible  to  every  remonstrance.  The  day  was  shock- 
ingly hot,  Mr  Neilson  had  run  about  to  have  every  thing 
convenient  for  his  female  charge,  till  he  had  got  a  return  of 
his  fever,  with  a  violent  head-ache.  No  wonder  his  philoso- 
phy was  staggered.  His  courage  indeed  was  so  far  spent, 
that  he  was  on  the  point  of  yielding  the  Victory  to  his  An- 
tagonist, when  the  Muleteer  came  to  his  assistance,  and  with 
three  or  four  hearty  blows  of  a  cudgel  across  the  rump  of  his 
stubborn  property,  he  thought  fit  to  move  at  last,  but  with 
the  most  untoward  motion,  and  stopping  every  now  and 
then,  till  the  correction  was  repeated,  went  off  with  a  jerk, 
which  made  our  poor  friend  feel  all  the  defects  of  the  old 
saddle.  This  was  a  bad  remedy  for  a  head-ache,  nor  was 
it  mended  by  the  noise  of  the  bells,  which  hung  round  the 
baggage  mule,  and  which  I  insisted  on  having  in  view,  hav- 
ing no  very  high  idea  of  the  honesty  of  a  Portugueze  Mule- 
teer. A  light-headed  young  Portugueze  officer,  being  on  the 
parade  when  we  went  into  the  calash,  took  a  fancy  to  attend 
us,  tho'  a  perfect  stranger,  and  observing  Mr  Neilson's  dis- 
tress, he  politely  begged  to  have  the  honour  of  whipping  up 
his  beast.  Neilson  by  this  time  was  so  heartily  tired,  that  he 
did  not  care  if  the  Devil  was  to  whip  him  up,  and  readily 
accepted  the  offer,  when  the  ridiculous  creature  began  a 
scampering  round  our  carriage,  mounted  on  a  fine  Spanish 
horse,  smacking  his  whip  over  the  mule,  and  hollowing  diable 


232     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

mulla,  mulla.  There  was  no  resisting  laughing,  in  which  the 
sufferer  himself  joined  in  spite  of  his  head-ache. 

I  was  exceedingly  vexed  however  at  this  accident,  as  it 
was  likely  to  deprive  us  of  Mr  Neilson's  company  the  whole 
way,  thro'  a  glorious  country,  diversified  beyond  description, 
every  now  and  then  a  noble  building  attracting  our  atten- 
tion, but  of  whose  use  or  names  we  could  get  no  information, 
our  postilion  speaking  only  his  native  language,  our  Chet- 
sarona  not  come  up,  and  our  best  instructor  kept  off  by  his 
confounded  brute  and  light-headed  companion.  How  often 
did  I  wish  for  my  brother  who  would  have  enjoyed  this 
scene  to  the  full,  and  rendered  it  many  degrees  more  agree- 
able to  us  by  his  judicious  remarks.  Quite  impatient,  we  at 
last  resolved  to  leave  the  calash,  and  ascend  the  remaining 
part  of  the  Mountain  on  foot,  which  was  now  become  so 
steep,  that  it  was  all  our  mules  were  able  to  pull  up  the  car- 
riage. The  whole  road  was  covered  with  mules  and  asses, 
carrying  wine  in  skins  to  the  waterside.  Mr  Neilson  found 
no  regret  in  relieving  his  stubborn  pad  of  his  burthen,  and  by 
the  assistance  of  his  arm,  we  got  on  tolerably,  but  not  with- 
out many  stops,  not  only  to  breathe,  but  to  take  a  survey  of 
the  charming  prospects  that  presented  themselves  to  us  on  all 
sides. 

As  we  advanced  nearer  the  summit,  we  left  behind  S4 
Tubes,  the  sea,  the  shipping,  the  large  salt-works,  the  fine 
ruins,  and  a  country  beautifully  green  with  corn  and  rich 
pasture-ground.  Before  us  we  had  the  river,  Tagus,  with  the 
town  of  Lisbon  and  all  the  adjacent  country  on  the  opposite 
shore.  On  our  left  hand  we  had  a  scene  nobly  wild  and  beau- 
tifully romantick.  The  mountains  presented  us  with  rocks 
and  woods,  thro'  which  flowed  many  a  rapid  stream,  which 
fell  down  in  noisy  cascades  thro'  the  valleys  below.  But  tho' 
these  valleys  boasted  their  cultivation  and  invited  us  to 
admire  vine-yards,  orange-groves  and  olive  orchards,  yet 
that  where  Nature  alone  held  dominion  entirely  engaged  our 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  233 

attention,  and  we  traced  the  wildness  of  the  mountains,  as 
far  as  our  eyes  could  penetrate  thro'  the  trees  or  over  the 
rocks.  While  we  were  making  different  observations,  Miss 
Rutherfurd  said  it  recalled  to  her  mind  a  description  she  had 
often  admired,  that  of  the  scene  when  Don  Quixote  met  the 
unhappy  Gentleman  deprived  of  his  senses.*  We  had  all 
agreed  in  the  justness  of  the  observation,  when  at  the  very 
instant,  as  if  by  design,  the  scene  was  completed  by  the 
appearance  of  an  unhappy  wretch  in  the  very  situation  in 
which  the  unfortunate  count  is  there  represented.  Tho'  a 
deep  valley  divided  the  two  mountains,  he  was  directly  op- 
posite to  us,  and  so  near,  that  we  both  heard  and  saw  him 
distinctly.  He  was  almost  naked,  his  hair  hanging  loose 
about  his  shoulders,  while  the  swiftness  with  which  he  leaped 
from  rock  to  rock  too  plainly  indicated  the  situation  of  his 
mind,  and  as  he  approached  the  precipice,  I  trembled  lest 
he  would  go  headlong  over.  However  he  stopped  just  on  the 
utmost  point,  and  falling  on  his  knees  seemed  to  implore  us 
(with  uplifted  hands)  in  a  supplicatory  voice,  which  how- 
ever was  soon  converted  into  that  of  the  greatest  wildness, 
and  his  actions  were  quite  frantick.  He  beat  his  breast,  tore 
his  hair,  and  by  his  gestures  seemed  to  be  imprecating  curses 
on  us,  after  which  with  terrible  cries,  he  returned  behind  the 
rocks,  and  we  saw  him  no  more.  We  were  vastly  affected  at 
this  view  of  the  greatest  extremity  of  human  misery,  and 
which  our  Chetsarona  told  [us]  he  had  been  reduced  to  by 
the  infidelity  of  a  wife  he  adored;  that  he  had  killed  her 
lover,  and  taken  refuge  in  the  convent  just  before  us,  but 
was  soon  deprived  of  his  senses.  However  the  fathers  hu- 
manely took  care  of  him,  tho'  he  often  escaped  to  the  woods 
and  rocks.  That  every  female  he  saw,  he  took  for  his  wife, 
and  always  at  first  addressed  them  with  softness,  but  soon 
with  such  rage,  as  made  it  very  dangerous  to  be  near  him. 

*  The  scene  referred  to  is  in  Don  Quixote,  Book  III,  ch.  xxiii. 


234     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

We  were  so  much  affected  with  this  melancholy  scene,  that 
we  walked  in  silence  up  the  mountain,  and  had  reached  the 
summit  before  we  were  aware,  and  found  ourselves  just 
under  the  convent  of  Palmella,  which  gives  its  name  to  a 
very  pretty  village  just  by,  remarkable  for  a  small  pleasant 
wine  produced  on  the  Valley  and  rising  grounds  to  our  right 
hand.  Whether  the  hurry  of  the  former  scene  had  prepared 
us  to  look  with  peculiar  delight  on  one  that  appeared  the  per- 
fect valley  of  contentment,  I  know  not,  but  it  certainly  con- 
veyed to  the  mind  a  strong  idea  of  rural  felicity;  and  the 
same  thought  struck  all  our  company.  It  was  one  continued 
vineyard,  with  a  number  of  hamlets  scattered  thro'  it,  the 
neatness  of  which  could  not  be  exceeded,  and  the  whole 
scene  looked  like  humility  and  safety.  A  nearer  view  might 
have  shown  our  mistake.  We  left  both  the  town  and  the  con- 
vent without  stopping,  tho'  much  pressed  to  take  refresh- 
ment. Our  mules  however  drank  at  an  elegant  marble  foun- 
tain for  the  relief  of  travellers.  We  got  into  our  Calash, 
Neilson  mounted  his  mule,  which  seemed  more  reconciled  to 
his  rider,  and  descended  the  other  side  of  the  mountain  in 
perfect  safety,  and  to  my  no  small  surprise,  I  found  a  heather 
moor  above  three  miles  long,  and  at  the  end  of  it  came  on 
a  flat,  very  unpleasant  tho'  a  cultivated  country,  and  got  to 
My  toe  [Moita],  which  is  in  the  kingdom  of  Lisbon,  about 
four  o'clock.*  Our  guide  conducted  us  thro'  a  narrow  lane, 

*  In  going  from  Setubal  to  Lisbon,  the  party  would  have  to  ride  over  the 
Sierra  da  Arabida  and  sail  across  the  Tagus.  Southey  has  described  the 
reverse  journey,  from  Lisbon  to  Setubal,  in  terms  which  may  well  be  compared 
with  those  of  Miss  Schaw.  He  crossed  the  Tagus  to  Moita,  rode  thence  on 
mules  (at  a  "cruzado  novo"  apiece)  up  the  hill  of  Palmella,  through  the 
pines,  with  flowers  scattered  on  every  hand  amid  the  heather  and  sand,  and 
found  at  the  entrance  to  Palmella  a  fountain  "with  the  arms  of  the  town  and 
an  inscription,  in  which  (he  says)  I  was  sometime  amused  at  seeing  S.  P. 
Q.  P.,  by  the  idea  of  the  Senate  and  People  of  Palmella."  He  then  descended 
on  the  other  side  of  the  sierra  with  a  prospect  before  him  "the  most  beautiful 
I  ever  beheld"  and  entered  Setubal,  which  he  describes  at  some  length 
(Letters  written  during  a  Short  Residence  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  pp.  32°" 
321). 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  235 

where  we  saw  wrote  over  a  door  an  Anlish  hot  for  man  and 
bost.  This  we  entered,  but  did  not  find  it  did  much  credit  to 
England.  Our  Chetsarona  however  had  been  aware  of  this, 
and  we  had  every  thing  brought  with  us  for  dinner,  and 
found  we  had  only  to  pay  for  leave  to  eat  our  own  meat. 

The  Tagus  like  our  Firth  can  only  be  crossed  at  the  tide. 
Mr  Neilson  had  secured  the  first  boat  for  ourselves,  and  we 
were  just  stepping  on  board,  when  two  or  three  men  inter- 
posed, and  told  us  we  were  prisoners  to  the  state  and  must 
return.  Our  guide  took  much  pains  to  assure  us  that  it  was 
nothing,  but  I  by  no  means  liked  the  Adventure.  We  were 
taken  to  the  house  of  a  judge,  who  received  us  in  his  Library, 
but  seemed  very  little  pleased  with  this  interruption  to  his 
studies.  Tho'  the  regard  paid  to  our  sex  by  every  man  in  this 
country  obtained  us  civility,  our  judge  or  rather  jailor  was 
a  little  spare  old  body,  wrapt  in  a  great  cloak  with  a  woollen 
coul  on  his  bald  pate,  which  however  he  uncovered,  nor  could 
be  prevailed  on  to  cover  his  head  or  resume  his  seat,  while  we 
were  standing,  which  we  did,  till  Neilson  was  carried  off  to 
the*  Governor,  from  whom  a  message  came  to  let  us  know 
that  we  were  at  liberty,  but  the  Gentleman  a  prisoner.  This 
favour  I  absolutely  refused,  and  declared  I  would  remain, 
till  I  could  send  to  my  friends  at  Lisbon  for  redress. 

No  sooner  had  Neilson  left  the  judge  than  he  made  us  be 
seated,  and  I  dare  say  he  paid  us  many  compliments,  as  he 
accompanied  all  he  said  with  a  most  obliging  air.  We  under- 
stood he  offered  us  fruit,  which  however  we  did  not  accept, 
but  returned  bow  for  bow  in  silence  for  above  an  hour,  dur- 
ing which  time,  our  postilion,  our  guide  and  Muleteer  had 
been  under  examination  in  regard  to  us,  and  had  given  such 
answers  as  convinced  the  Governor,  who  fortunately  was  not 
an  idiot,  that  we  had  no  design  either  on  the  King's  or  Mar- 
quis of  Pombal's  life.*  Two  men  then  came  and  took  an 

*  Joseph  I,  1750-1777,  son  of  John  X,  married  Maria  Anna,  daughter  of 
Philip  V  of  Spain.  His  daughter,  the  princess  of  Brazil,  married  his  youngest 


236     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

inventory  of  our  features,  our  complexion,  the  colour  of  our 
hair,  and  made  us  take  off  our  hats  to  see  we  had  not  wigs. 
This  being  done,  a  certificate  was  attested  and  delivered  to 
Mr  Neilson,  and  we  were  set  at  liberty.  We  were  forced 
however  to  pay  no  less  than  Nine  shillings  and  ninepence  a 
piece  for  this  certificate,  and  we  had  lost  the  tide  and  were 
forced  to  return  to  our  paltry  inn,  till  the  next  arrived.* 

Now  for  the  first  time,  since  I  set  out  on  my  expedition, 
my  temper  fairly  forsook  me.  The  Night  was  cold  and  a 
drizling  rain  had  come  on.  It  was  also  so  dark,  that  I  lost  all 
the  pleasure  I  hoped  for  on  the  Tagus.  Tho'  we  had  hired 
the  boat  entirely,  it  was  half  full  of  dead  hogs,  fish  and  a 
variety  of  articles  for  Market,  and  we  were  hardly  set  off 
from  the  shore,  when  the  crew  began  chanting  their  Vespers, 
and  had  the  dead  swine  which  lay  by  them  joined  their 
grunts  to  the  concert,  it  could  not  have  rendered  it  more 
disagreeable.f  But  farewell,  the  Captain  of  the  Packet  calls, 
and  is  to  take  charge  of  this,  and  one  for  my  brother  himself. 
Adieu,  Adieu. 

brother,  her  uncle  Peter.  After  Joseph's  death  in  1777,  she  and  her  husband 
reigned  as  Maria  I  and  Peter  III,  he  until  his  death  in  1786,  she  after  that, 
alone,  until  her  death  in  1816,  when  she  was  succeeded  by  her  son  John  VI, 
the  great-great-grandfather  of  the  late  Carlos  I.  See  below,  p.  251. 

Sebastian  Joseph  de  Carvalho  e  Mello,  Marquess  of  Pombal,  was  the 
greatest  statesman  that  Portugal  ever  produced.  Not  only  did  he  rebuild 
Lisbon  after  the  earthquake  but  he  endeavored  also  to  win  independence  for 
Portugal  from  the  political  dominance  of  Spain,  the  commercial  dominance 
of  Great  Britain,  and  the  religious  dominance  of  the  Inquisition  and  the 
Jesuits.  (The  most  accessible  life  of  Pombal  is  by  J.  Smith,  Count  of  Carnota, 
Memoirs  of  the  Marquess  of  Pombal,  1843,  but  though  a  scholarly  work  it 
stands  in  great  need  of  revision.) 

*  This  adventure  happened  at  Moita,  which  though  located  today  some 
distance  from  navigable  water,  was  then  the  place  of  departure  on  the 
southern  shore  of  the  Tagus  for  those  wishing  to  go  to  Lisbon. 

f  Southey  returned  to  Lisbon  and  in  crossing  the  Tagus  from  Moita  had 
much  the  same  experience  as  had  Miss  Schaw.  He  made  the  trip  in  a  boat 
"used  for  carrying  dung,"  the  moisture  of  which  "oozed  through  upon  us." 
"Half  a  dozen  ducks,  who  made  part  of  the  passengers,  amused  us  (he 
writes)  with  their  music,  and  the  men  stunk  so  abominably  that  even  Manuel 
complained.  We  preferred  being  wet  to  this  pestilential  atmosphere  and 
reached  Lisbon  after  a  passage  of  five  hours"  (pp.  331-332). 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  237 

Friendship  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth  in  every  climate,  and 
of  so  delicate  a  Nature,  that  the  person  who  can  rear  up  a 
few,  may  think  himself  happy,  even  where  he  has  passed 
his  early  years  and  has  had  his  most  constant  residence. 
Travellers  in  passing  thro'  foreign  countries  have  no  right  to 
expect  friendship,  and  if  they  meet  its  resemblance  in  polite- 
ness and  civilities,  ought  to  be  perfectly  satisfied.  But  how 
much  greater  reason  have  I  to  be  pleased,  who  have  met  the 
real  genuine  plant,  a  heart  that  beats  time  to  my  own,  and 
enjoys  all  the  happiness  she  bestows,  and  participates  all  the 
pleasures  and  civilities  that  on  her  account  and  by  her  means 
are  hourly  heaped  on  us.  You  cannot  have  forgot  the  lovely 
and  amiable  Christy  Pringle.  You  have  heard  me  speak  of 
her  a  hundred  times,  and  never  without  the  sincerest  regret 
for  her  absence.  That  affection,  that  began  while  she  was  in 
the  nursing,  is  not  lessened,  and  has  proved  to  me  a  source  of 
infinite  satisfaction.  Mr  Paisley,  whom  she  married  some 
years  ago,  adds  dignity  to  the  name  of  a  British  merchant,  a 
title  that  conveys  more  in  my  idea  than  that  of  Duke  or 
Lord  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  He  carries  on  an  exten- 
sive commerce  to  the  East  and  West  Indies,  the  African  Is- 
lands, the  Brazils  and  indeed  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
His  success  has  been  what  he  justly  merited,  and  I  believe  he 
is  not  now  second  to  any  in  our  British  factories.  He  lives 
with  the  Magnificence  of  a  prince  and  the  hospitality  of  an 
English  merchant.  He  is  a  French-man  in  politeness,  which 
his  benevolent  actions  daily  show  to  a  number  of  obliged 
and  grateful  connections,  who  by  his  means  are  put  in  the 
way  of  becoming  independent  and  happy. 

We  were  received  by  him  with  that  openess  of  manner, 
that  did  not  suffer  us  to  feel  we  were  strangers,  and  he  soon 
gave  us  every  reason  to  think  ourselves  at  home  with  our 
nearest  relations.  The  evening  after  our  arrival,  we  were 
visited  by  a  number  of  the  British  of  both  sexes.  Amongst 


238     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 


these  was  General  McLean,  Govr  of  Lisbon*  and  commander 
in  chief  of  the  land  forces.  His  name  informs  you  of  his 
country.  He  is  indeed  a  fine  highland  looking  fellow,  and 
tho'  not  now  a  boy  is  still  a  great  favourite  with  the  Ladies. 
His  Aid  de  Camp,  Major  Scott, f  is  from  Mid  Lothian,  Scott 
of  Mollinie's  eldest  son,  who  has  been  so  long  abroad,  that 
he  has  entirely  gained  the  manners  of  a  foreigner,  and  tho' 
a  most  worthy  man  and  much  beloved  here,  if  ever  he  returns 
to  his  country,  will  not  fail  to  be  called  horribly  affected. 

But  of  all  the  men  I  have  yet  seen,  I  prefer  Major  Lind- 
say^ also  a  Scotchman.  This  Gentleman  who  is  universally 
and  justly  admired,  is  brother  to  Lindsay  of  Wormiston  in 
Fife.  Never  did  I  see  in  my  life  a  more  agreeable  figure,  or 
more  amiable  manners  than  he  possesses ;  he  looks  and  moves 
the  Gentleman.  I  am  never  so  happy  as  when  attended  by 
him.  His  conversation  is  elegant,  polite  and  entertaining,  his 
taste  is  refined,  his  remarks  judicious.  He  has  such  an  accu- 
rate manner  of  explaining  the  present  objects  and  describing 
the  absent,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  to  discover  with  which  of  the 
two  I  am  most  pleased.  My  brother  would  doat  on  him.  He 
is  the  man  entirely  to  his  taste.  I  am  never  happy  when  he  is 

*  The  General  Maclean  mentioned  by  Miss  Schaw  as  "governor  of  Lis- 
bon," was  Francis  Maclean  of  the  Macleans  of  Blaich,  who  was  a  lieutenant 
in  the  army  of  Cumberland  at  the  siege  of  Bergen-op-Zoom  in  1747,  served 
with  Wolfe  at  Quebec  in  1759,  and  accompanied  the  expedition  against 
Belleisle  in  1761.  His  extraordinary  position  in  Lisbon  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  when  in  1762  France  and  Spain  combined  against  Portugal,  England 
offered  her  assistance  and  sent  Maclean  to  organize  the  military  defences  of 
the  country.  He  was  appointed  in  1762  governor  of  Almeida  and  later,  as 
major-general,  governor  of  the  province  of  Estremadura  and  the  city  of 
Lisbon,  serving  in  that  capacity  until  1778.  On  his  departure  he  was  presented 
by  Peter  III  with  a  sword  and  by  his  consort  Maria  I  with  a  ring.  During 
the  next  two  years  he  was  with  the  army  in  America  as  brigadier-general.  He 
died  in  1781  {Historical  and  Genealogical  Account  of  the  Clan  Maclean, 
1838,  p.  293). 

f  The  "Major  Scott"  mentioned  here  was  John  Scott  of  Mallony,  who  in 
1742  married  Susan,  granddaughter  of  the  Marquess  of  Tweeddale.  Their 
eldest  son,  Thomas,  served  with  distinction  in  America,  Holland,  and  India. 

J  "Major  Lindsay"  was  probably  Major  Martin  Eccles  Lindsay,  son  of 
Henry  of  Wormiston,  though  the  identification  is  not  certain. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  239 

not  with  us,  and  could  attend  to  him  the  day  long.  Yet  I 
view  him  as  a  superior  being,  as  he  is  on  the  utmost  Verge 
of  Mortality,  and  in  a  few  weeks  at  farthest  will  join  his 
kindred  angels.  He  knows  this  is  the  case  and  waits  his  fate 
with  the  fortitude  of  a  man  and  the  resignation  of  a  Chris- 
tian. It  has  ever  been  my  lot  to  pay  days  of  sorrow  for  hours 
of  pleasure,  and  my  heart  tells  me  I  will  sincerely  regret  this 
blasted  bud  of  friendship — indeed  the  subject  already  pains 
me,  so  I  will  say  no  more. 

I  ought  to  have  begun  my  list  of  civilities  with  Sir  John 
Hort,*  our  British  consul,  as  he  was  the  first  who  waited  on 
Mr  Paisley  on  our  arrival  and  politely  invited  us  to  a  ball  at 
his  house  the  day  following,  an  offer,  which  scarcely  we  knew 
how  to  accept,  as  we  are  perfect  Goths  in  the  article  of  dress, 
so  much  has  fashion  altered  since  we  left  Britain.  Our  friends 
Mrs  Paisley  and  her  sister  Charlotte  Pringle  however  exerted 
themselves  so  successfully,  that  we  really  made  a  decent 
figure ;  to  me  it  appeared  a  most  surprising  one,  as  a  French 
frizler  and  Portugueze  comber  exalted  my  head  to  a  height 
I  did  not  believe  it  capable  of  attaining,  and  between  flowers, 
feathers,  and  lace,  I  was  perfectly  metamorphosed.  It  did  not 
cost  much  to  make  Miss  Rutherfurd  fit  to  appear.  At  her  age 
every  thing  does  well;  then  either  the  magnificence  or  sim- 
plicity of  dress  is  equally  admired.  Mrs  Paisley  was  always 
remarkable  for  the  last,  and  tho'  dressed  up  to  the  fashion, 
still  contrives  to  have  it  in  that  style,  which  is  indeed  suitable 
to  her  character,  which  tho'  polite  to  the  height  of  good 
breeding,  is  yet  admired  for  the  most  gentle  and  native  sim- 
plicity that  can  adorn  the  sex  in  any  age  or  in  any  station. 

The  labour  of  the  toilet  over,  we  arrived  at  Sir  John's, 
where  we  found  a  most  superb  entertainment  for  a  brilliant 

*  Sir  John  Hort  was  the  second  son  of  Josiah  Hort,  archbishop  of  Tuam, 
and  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Honorable  William  Fitzmaurice, 
brother  of  the  20th  Lord  Kerry.  He  was  appointed  British  consul-general  at 
Lisbon  in  1767,  was  created  a  baronet  in  the  year,  and  died  October  23,  1807. 


240     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

company.  To  me  it  appeared  particularly  so;  to  me  who  have 
not  seen  any  thing  of  the  kind  for  so  long  a  time.  Here  we 
were  presented,  or  more  properly  to  speak  as  a  Lady,  had 
presented  to  us  all  the  foreign  Envoys  and  residents  and  one 
ambassador,  but  I  forget  from  what  court.  The  Ladies  were 
all  British  or  French,  as  no  Portugueze  Ladies  appear  in 
publick.  The  King  is  just  now  at  a  palace  about  12  or  14 
miles  off,*  and  has  with  him  many  of  the  first  Nobility. 
However  there  were  several,  and  I  thought  them  genteel- 
looking  people.  The  house  is  large  and  there  was  a  number 
of  apartments  lighted  up,  which  received  great  Addition 
from  the  manner  in  which  all  the  fine  rooms  are  furnished 
here,  which  is  up  to  the  surbase,  where  our  rooms  are  painted, 
with  a  sort  of  china-tiles,  as  we  do  the  inside  of  chimneys  in 
England.  These  are  often  very  fine,  and  so  nicely  fitted  as  to 
form  complete  landscapes.  Add  to  this  that  they  use  the  most 
brilliant  cut  crystal  in  Lusters,  so  that  take  it  altogether,  a 
Portugueze  visiting  room  is  not  inferior  to  the  first  drawing 
room  in  Europe.  We  were  served  in  the  genteelest  style  I 
have  seen.  The  table  was  very  much  on  the  plan  of  a  West 
Indian  entertainment,  but  every  thing  was  hid  under  the 
profusion  of  Artificial  flowers,  which  cover  every  thing  in 
this  place.  Sir  John  is  said  to  be  very  formal  in  his  manners, 
but  to  do  him  justice,  I  cannot  say  he  appeared  so  to  me.  Mr 
Paisley  says  indeed  he  never  saw  him  so  easy  as  that  Night. 
Our  Envoy,  Mr  Walpole,f  has  invited  the  whole  com- 
pany to  his  house ;  but  the  day  is  not  fixed.  He  is  a  cheerful 

*  The  royal  palace  at  Cintra,  some  sixteen  or  seventeen  miles  away. 

f  Robert  Walpole  was  the  son  of  Horatio  Walpole,  diplomat  and  auditor- 
general  of  the  plantation  revenues,  nephew  of  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  and 
cousin  of  Horace,  the  wit  and  letter  writer.  He  served  as  clerk  of  the  Privy 
Council  in  extraordinary,  1748-1764,  in  ordinary,  1764-1768,  on  diplomatic 
business  in  France,  1768-1770,  and  as  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  pleni- 
potentiary to  Portugal,  1771-1800.  He  married  at  Lisbon,  May  10,  1785,  Miss 
Stert,  daughter  of  Richard  Stert,  a  merchant  there,  and  died  in  1809.  His 
relative  Thomas,  son  of  Horace,  was  a  member  of  the  Ohio  Land  Company 
in  1773  and  one  of  the  Vandalia  petitioners  in  1774. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  241 

pleasant  man,  but  tho'  he  was  vastly  polite  to  our  company, 
I  could  not  help  observing  he  is  fond  of  a  certain  species  of 
wit,  to  which  he  was  too  much  encouraged  by  some  Ladies 
he  talked  to.  This  I  can  easily  see  is  considered  as  taste,  yet 
it  certainly  affords  no  great  triumph,  as  of  all  others  it  is 
what  is  practised  by  the  lower  class  with  greatest  success.  I 
know  you  will  tell  me  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  vul- 
gar language  and  a  delicate  double  entender.  But  I  deny  that 
there  can  be  a  delicate  method  of  treating  indelicate  subjects, 
and  that  all  the  difference  is  no  more  than  Tweedle  dee  and 
Tweedle  dum.  My  friend  told  me  on  our  return,  that  I  had 
missed  a  great  deal  by  not  understanding  the  Portugueze, 
which  it  was  her  misfortune  to  do.  By  the  bye  I  must  tell  you 
a  very  polite  piece  of  attention  in  Sir  John :  finding  Mr  Neil- 
son  did  not  stay  at  Mr  Paisley 's  tho'  he  saw  him  there,  he 
waited  on  him  next  morning  and  gave  him  his  invitation  in 
person. 

Such  a  succession  of  new  scenes  presents  itself  to  me  every 
day,  nay  every  hour,  that  I  am  at  a  loss  where  to  begin,  and 
seem  to  want  subject,  by  having  too  many  at  my  command. 
All  travellers  are  fond  of  ruins,  and  Lisbon  can  shew  as 
pretty  a  set  as  any  Modern  city  need  boast  of.  Yet  I  do  not 
find  they  afford  me  such  infinite  satisfaction  as  one  might 
expect.  The  disagreeable  idea  that  what  has  been  may  be 
again  often  intrudes  on  my  Imagination,  and  I  view  churches, 
Monasteries,  palaces  and  even  the  Inquisition  in  ruins  with  a 
sort  of  reverential  awe,  and  tho'  a  staunch  protestant,  can- 
not help  reflecting  on  the  words  of  our  Saviour,  which  cer- 
tainly exclude  the  daring  insolence  of  pronouncing  what  are 
his  Judgments,  "Think  ye  these  on  whom  the  tower  of 
Siloam  fell  were  sinners  above  all  others'?  I  say  nay,"  These 
however  were  not  the  sentiments  of  a  good  Lady,  whom  I 
had  the  honour  to  call  Grandmother,  and  who  had  lived  at 
the  period  when  miracles  and  Judgments  were  greatly  the 
fashion.  This  affair  of  Lisbon  gave  strength  to  her  doctrine, 


242     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  tho'  she  pretended  to  pity,  I  really  believe  she  privately 
rejoiced  at  an  event  that  seemed  to  confirm  all  she  had  said 
(which  was  not  little)  on  the  subject.  She  sincerely  believed 
that  this  vast  Magazine  of  dreadful  materials  had  been  treas- 
uring up  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth  from  the  foundation  of 
V  the  world  to  catch  the  priests  and  their  votaries  at  this  very 
nick  of  time,  when,  to  use  her  own  words,  they  had  no  cloak 
for  their  sin.  And  she  used  to  ask  with  a  sort  of  triumph,  did 
any  protestants  fall  in  this,  I  trow  not.  This  always  finished 
the  whole.  For  none  of  her  young  audience  knew  more  of  the 
matter  than  what  she  told  them.  Let  us  not  therefore  confine 
the  spirit  of  persecution  alone  to  popery.  This  Lady,  who 
wanted  neither  sense  nor  good  Nature,  was  not  sorry  for  any 
misfortune  that  befel  a  Papist.* 

I  have  often  been  told  that  Lisbon  resembled  Edinburgh. 
This  to  me  is  not  very  apparent.  It  is  true  they  are  both  built 
on  high  ground,  but  it  would  require  you  to  bring  the  Calton 
hill  into  the  middle  of  the  city  to  give  a  strong  resemblance. 
The  houses  built  on  the  hill  in  Lisbon  are  finely  situated  for 
air,  and  have  one  of  the  finest  prospects  in  the  known  world, 
that  of  an  extensive  country,  covered  with  vineyards,  inter- 
mixed with  churches,  Villas,  and  one  of  the  King's  palaces 
called  Belleim.f  This  luxuriant  prospect  is  at  once  under 
your  eye,  and  joined  to  it  that  of  a  water  scene,  no  less 
magnificent  of  its  kind,  as  the  Tagus  is  here  large  as  a  Sea 

*  If  the  reference  in  the  text  be  to  Miss  Schaw's  grandmother  on  her 
father's  side,  her  first  name  was  Anna.  She  is  mentioned  as  living  at  Lauris- 
ton  in  1726  and  must  have  survived  until  after  the  earthquake  in  1755.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  more  about  this  old  lady,  who,  in  characteristic 
Scottish  Presbyterian  fashion,  "was  not  sorry  for  any  misfortune  that  befel  a 
Papist." 

f  Belem  was  a  suburb  of  Lisbon,  extending  three  or  four  miles  southwest 
along  the  Tagus,  from  a  mile  and  a  half  to  five  miles  distant.  It  is  sometimes 
called  the  Westminster  of  Portugal,  because  containing  two  royal  palaces  and 
a  royal  monastery  founded  in  1490.  One  must  distinguish  between  the  palace 
d'Ajuda  and  the  Belem  palace  (the  Pago  de  Belem),  sometimes  called  the 
Botanical  Palace.  The  former  was  not  built  at  this  time,  so  that  it  was  the 
latter  which  Miss  Schaw  visited. 


P  LAN 
O  F    TH  E    CITY   O  F 

LISBON 


1  frota  do  Commerdo  (Black  Horse  Square) 
i  fyaaLOJiDomPedrotRplyPolySoyare,) 

3  Rw  Augusta  (Stredfir  the.  Merchants;  probably  _    ^^ 

4  Statue  oj  Joseph  It.     (Paisleys  Iwuse.  was  on  tin  earner  where  the.  street  entered  the,  Pmca.) 

5  ArceruJ  da.  Marinha.  (Marine.  Arsenal) 

6  The.  Custom  House 

7  Church  of  St.  Rjcaut  (the,  Ao/ueducto  das  Aguas  Livres) 

8  Mae.  d'Agua  ( the.  Reservoir  into  wrwdi-flowed.  the  water  from 

9  Prac a.  das  Fabricas  (through  which  ran  the  Awueduct) 

10  Ayuedwdo  das  Apuas  L  ivres 

11  The  English  Cemetery 
n  The  Cathedral 

Belem  Lies  to  the.  Left  along  the  Taeus 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  243 

and  covered  with  a  vast  number  of  ships  as  well  as  the  King's 
galleys.  Every  thing  appears  busy.  I  cannot  help  considering 
commerce  as  a  chain  to  link  all  the  human  race  to  each  other, 
by  mutually  supplying  each  other's  necessities.  I  was  much 
pleased  with  the  prospect  I  have  been  describing,  but  no 
pleasure  is  without  its  alloy,  for  I  viewed  it  from  the  sick 
chamber  of  my  old  friend  Colin  Drummond,  brother  to  your 
friend  the  Dutchess  of  Athole.*  He  is  come  to  Lisben  as  the 
Denier  resort,  and  tho'  he  affects  to  think  himself  better,  told 
me  privately,  it  was  all  over.  This  his  physician  confirmed, 
adding  with  some  warmth  that  the  people  of  Britain  loved 
mightily  to  be  buried  at  Lisbon,  as  they  seldom  come  there, 
till  just  ready  to  step  into  the  grave.f  I  stayed  with  him  all 
day.  He  took  my  visit  very  kindly,  and  his  spirits  grew  much 
better,  while  I  remained  with  him.  This  however  was  by  no 
means  the  case  with  my  own.  The  unexpected  meeting  and 
the  situation  he  was  in  very  much  affected  me  and  recalled 
to  my  remembrance  the  agreeable  circle  in  which  I  was  accus- 

*  The  Duchess  of  Atholl  (second  wife  of  James,  2d  Duke  of  Atholl)  was 
Jean,  daughter  of  John  Drummond  of  Meginck,  Perthshire.  Colin  Drum- 
mond was  her  brother.  It  is  odd  that  Miss  Schaw  should  speak  of  her  as  the 
"Dutchess  of  Athole,"  because  on  September  2,  1767,  she  was  married  to  Lord 
Adam  Gordon,  of  the  66th  Regiment  of  Foot,  who  had  just  returned  from 
a  long  tour  through  the  American  colonies  (journal  printed  in  Mereness, 
Travels  in  the  American  Colonies).  Her  first  husband  died  in  1764.  As  she 
had  first  married  in  May,  1749  (Universal  Magazine,  IV,  239),  she  must 
have  been  about  forty-five  in  1775. 

t  For  many  years  Englishmen  and  Scotsmen  had  made  Portugal  a  British 
winter  resort.  Mr.  George  writing  of  the  eighteenth  century  says,  "The  new 
trade  in  tourists  was  just  beginning  with  those  whose  health  made  a  winter 
in  England  a  worse  hardship  than  crossing  the  seas ;  and  Fielding's  account 
of  his  journey  to  Portugal  as  a  luxurious  invalid  late  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, shows  what  hardship  then  meant.  The  moist  mild  climate  of  Lisbon 
was  considered  suitable  for  consumptives  by  the  science  of  the  day,  and  all 
who  could  afford  or  survive  the  journey  went  with  Fielding  to  fill  the  British 
cemetery  at  Lisbon"  (p.  185). 

The  land  for  a  cemetery  was  ceded  to  England  in  1655,  in  accordance  with 
the  XIV  article  of  the  treaty  of  1654  ("and  finally,  that  a  place  be  allotted 
them  fit  for  the  burial  of  their  dead").  The  most  famous  persons  who  lie 
buried  there  are  Henry  Fielding  and  Dr.  Philip  Doddridge,  but  scores  of 
others  also  found  in  the  British  cemetery  their  final  resting  place. 


244     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

tomed  to  converse  with  him,  almost  all  of  whom  are  now 
no  more. 

I  was  that  evening  at  a  very  brilliant  assembly  given  by 
the  factory,*  and  tlio'  there  were  many  fine  women,  my 
partiality  gave  it  for  our  own  three  friends  Mrs  Paisley, 
Charlotte  Pringle,  and  my  own  Fanny.  I  found  the  men  in 
general  of  my  opinion,  and  was  informed  that  some  of  them 
had  given  a  strong  proof  of  their  preferences,  as  Miss  Char- 
lotte would  soon  be  Mrs  Main,  a  Gentleman  equal  in  every 
way  to  what  I  formerly  said  of  Mr  Paisley,  and  in  the  same 
line,  as  well  as  connected  by  the  strictest  bond  of  friendship. 
I  hope  it  is  true. 

I  saw  mass  performed  one  day  in  the  great  church  of  S* 
Rock,f  where  all  the  nobles  of  Lisbon  were  prostrate  on  the 
ground,  covered  with  their  vails.  The  English  seldom  or 
never  enter  the  churches,  but  particularly  avoid  them  on  high 
festivals.  However  one  of  Mr  Paisley's  young  Gentlemen 
went  with  us.  For  tho'  Miss  Pringle  had  been  a  considerable 

*  To  understand  the  reference  to  the  "factory"  and  the  presence  of  so 
many  English  and  Scottish  merchants  in  Lisbon,  one  must  remember  that 
since  the  treaties  of  1642  and  1654,  the  marriage  treaty  of  1661,  which  con- 
firmed the  earlier  arrangements,  and  the  famous  Methuen  treaty  of  1703, 
Portuguese  commerce  had  come  practically  under  British  control.  British 
merchants  established  themselves  in  Oporto  and  Lisbon,  receiving  and  selling 
imported  merchandise  to  the  Portuguese,  either  for  home  consumption  or 
for  export  to  Brazil,  and  for  this  purpose  erected  buildings  which  were  used 
as  warehouses  and  agencies,  for  the  storing  and  selling  of  goods.  In  a  sense 
Portugal  became  in  the  eighteenth  century  Great  Britain's  commercial  vassal, 
and  the  Portuguese  merchants  rarely  rose  above  the  level  of  shopkeepers  and 
retail  traders.  It  was  this  condition  of  commercial  subordination  that  Pombal 
wished  to  alter  by  restoring  trade  to  the  natives  and  making  them  importers 
and  wholesale  dealers  in  foreign  goods.  He  was  unsuccessful  in  his  effort. 

The  terms  "factor"  and  "factory"  were  used  as  the  equivalent  of  "agent" 
and  "agency."  Evidently  the  buildings  served  not  only  as  commission  houses 
and  places  for  storage,  but  as  residences  also  and  centres  for  entertainment. 

f  The  Church  of  St.  Roque  was  erected  by  the  Jesuits  in  1561.  It  is 
"exteriorly  a  building  of  the  meanest  architectural  pretensions,"  but  con- 
tains a  beautiful  chapel,  that  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  constructed  of  costly 
marbles,  jasper,  and  lapis  lazuli.  Apparently  Miss  Schaw  and  Fanny  were 
so  taken  up  with  the  altar  and  the  wardrobe  that  they  did  not  see  this  work 
of  art,  the  usual  object  of  interest  to  visitors. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  245 

time  there,  she  had  never  been  in  any  of  the  churches.  I  was 
much  disappointed  in  the  highest  part  of  this  showy  religion. 
I  had  formed  to  myself  a  very  grand  idea  of  it,  but  perhaps 
it  was  owing  to  the  particularity  of  their  church,  where  the 
great  altar  is  never  displayed,  nor  used  but  when  a  Bishop 
or  a  Cardinal  performs  the  Service.  Two  priests  were  imme- 
diately sent  to  take  charge  of  us,  and  they  made  us  step  with- 
out ceremony  over  the  very  backs  of  the  people,  who  were 
on  the  ground  almost  quite  flat  on  their  faces,  and  by  a 
private  door  landed  us  behind  on  the  great  altar,  where  they 
let  us  see  the  Service  below  by  drawing  up  the  crimson  velvet 
curtain,  and  I  own  (God  forgive  me)  that  viewing  it  as  I 
then  did,  it  appeared  little  more  solemn  than  my  friend 
Senora  Maria's  cloth-press.  But  the  altar  is  very  superb,  and 
adorned  with  the  finest  Mosaic  work  I  ever  saw,  which  forms 
four  beautiful  pieces  of  painting.  We  now  repaired  to  the 
Wardrobe,  where  we  saw  some  gorgeous  dresses  for  the  Car- 
dinal. But  the  fine  Brussels  point  took  Miss  Rutherfurd's 
fancy  so  much,  that  I  think  the  only  method  to  convert  her 
would  be  to  bribe  her  with  a  present  of  the  prettiest  shirt. 
They  showed  us  two  altar-pieces  of  solid  silver,  but  more  to 
be  coveted  than  admired,  as  their  richness  was  their  only 
merit.  We  had  a  very  elegant  rout  at  the  Paisleys  in  the  eve- 
ning, and  are  engaged  for  every  evening  for  a  week. 

I  had  just  got  this  length,  when  Mr  Paisley  came  to  in- 
form me  that  a  Gentleman  was  in  the  visiting  room,  who  was 
just  setting  out  for  England.  I  send  this  by  him,  as  I  will 
miss  no  opportunity.  I  am  an  easy  correspondent,  however  as 
I  can  expect  no  answer.  Adieu,  I  hope  to  see  you  before  you 
can  receive  another,  tho'  I  will  write  again  by  the  King 
George  Packet.  Adieu. 

I  was  yesterday  at  Belleim,  the  winter  palace  of  the  King; 
tho'  they  are  just  now  spending  their  Holydays  at  one  fur- 
ther in  the  country.  The  house  is  by  no  means  fine,  and  did 
not  the  garden  and  other  appurtenances  atone  for  it,  it  would 


246     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

hardly  be  worth  the  trouble  of  going  to  see,  but  those  indeed 
are  well  worthy  of  a  traveller's  Notice.  This  garden  contains 
within  it  variety  enough  almost  to  satisfy  a  Sir  William 
Chalmers,*  and  had  I  not  read  his  account  of  what  a  garden 
ought  to  be,  J  I  should  not  venture  to  express  all  I  saw  under 
that  single  appellation,  but  tho'  it  is  far  from  being  so  exten- 
sive as  his  plan,  yet  it  contains  a  great  deal  more  than  his 
three  natural  notes  of  earth,  air  and  water,  water,  earth  and 
air.  As  this  palace  is  intended  for  a  winter  residence,  every 
thing  has  been  done  to  render  it  agreeable  for  that  season  of 
the  year.  The  walks  are  covered  with  the  finest  gravel  and 
sheltered  from  the  cold  by  hedges  of  ever-green.  They  are  so 
contrived  as  to  stretch  your  power  of  walking  to  a  consider- 
able length,  every  now  and  then  opening  into  orange-groves 
and  shrubberies  of  various  winter  plants  and  flowers. 

Nor  is  unanimated  Nature  all  you  have  to  amuse  you. 
While  we  were  admiring  a  row  of  cape  jessamine,  which 
even  now  is  covered  with  flowers,  a  huge  elephant  laid  his 
proboscis  over  the  wall  against  which  it  was  planted.  I  con- 
fess I  was  startled  at  the  uncommon  salutation,  tho'  I  had  no 
reason.  This  unwieldy  novelty  was  very  well  secured,  and 
on  mounting  the  stair  of  an  adjoining  summer  house,  we  had 
a  full  view  of  him  in  safety.  What  a  pigmy  is  man,  when 
compared  to  such  an  animal  as  this,  and  yet  is  vain  enough  to 
pretend  dominion  over  him.  A  little  further  on  we  met  a  com- 
partment entirely  the  reverse  of  the  last.  This  is  an  Aviary 
which  contains  five  hundred  singing  birds,  all  exquisite  in 
their  plumage,  tho'  I  could  not  hear  their  notes.  These  are  a 
yearly  tribute  to  the  queen  from  the  Brazils,  the  Madeira, 
and  indeed  from  all  the  dominions  where  they  are  to  be  had. 
Their  apartment  is  large  and  well  contrived,  of  an  oval  form 
and  grated  over  the  top.  It  is  planted  round  with  orange- 

$  His  description  of  an  Asiatick  garden. 
*  Sir  William  Chambers,  A  Dissertation  on  Oriental  Gardening,  1772. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  247 

trees,  Myrtles,  and  a  variety  of  evergreens,  and  in  the  middle 
is  a  piece  of  water,  which  receives  a  constant  supply  from  the 
hands  of  a  Hebe  placed  at  the  upper  end,  and  runs  off  from 
the  bottom,  so  as  to  be  always  fresh,  while  a  small  grate  pre- 
vents the  little  gold  and  silver  fishes  from  being  carried  off, 
and  they  look  very  pretty  frisking  about  in  it. 

A  little  further  on,  we  found  Indian  fowls  of  all  denomi- 
nations, some  of  them  very  beautiful  and  others  very  much 
the  reverse.  It  were  impossible  to  name  them  all,  but  they  are 
well  represented  on  the  Indian  papers  we  get  home.  One 
however  I  took  more  particalar  Notice  of,  as  I  had  often 
admired  her  figure  on  the  gold  medal  which  hung  at  Mrs 
Murray  of  Stormont's  breast,*  and  which  empowered  her  to 
keep  in  decent  order  those  Misses  and  Masters,  whose  heads 
and  heels  were  equally  light.  You  will  guess  I  mean  the 
pelican,  which  is  the  badge  of  her  authority  as  Lady  direct- 
ress of  our  assembly.  Her  power  both  you  and  I  have  felt, 
tho'  much  oftener  her  goodness  and  even  partiality.  This 
tender  mother  is  not  however  in  fact  lovely,  tho'  of  good 
report.  There  were  several  other  compartments  filled  by  the 
feathered  race  of  different  kinds,  but  it  would  be  tedious  to 
mention  them  all.  We  now  entered  a  field,  at  the  further  end 
of  which  was  a  whole  street  of  small  houses,  which  we  found 
were  occupied  by  animals  of  the  most  noxious  natures,  such 
as  pole  cats,  weasels  etc.  One  in  particular  was  inhabited  by 
rats  of  Brazil,  of  a  very  large  size.  They  all  came  peeping 
thro'  their  grates,  just  like  so  many  nuns,  and  if  they  were 
to  confine  only  such  as  they  think  would  do  mischief  to 
society,  if  free,  they  were  in  the  right.  Behind  this  we  found 
a  very  noble  menagerie,  in  the  form  of  a  court.  Here  are  lions, 
leopards,  panthers,  bears  and  wolves.  Both  the  lioness  and 

*  Nov.  7,  1777.  "Died  at  Edinburgh,  Hon.  Mrs.  Helen  Nicholas  Murray, 
daughter  of  the  deceased  David,  Viscount  of  Stormont,  aunt  of  the  present 
Viscount  of  Stormont,  and  sister  of  the  Earl  of  Mansfield"  (Scots  Magazine, 
1777,  P-  627). 


248     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

the  panther  have  whelps.  The  last  has  the  most  beautiful 
kittens  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  I  forgot  the  tiger,  which  has 
also  a  young  family.  Tho'  there  is  a  number  of  officers  to 
attend  this  ferocious  court,  they  are  not  kept  neat,  and  the 
smell  is  intolerable. 

Leaving  this,  we  found  ourselves  again  in  the  garden,  and 
presently  arrived  at  another  court,  which  I  may  venture  to 
pronounce  magnificent.  This  was  the  menage  and  the  royal 
stables.  These  contain  above  three  score  of  the  finest  horses 
in  the  world.  The  absence  of  my  brother  on  this  occasion, 
converted  my  pleasure  into  pain,  as  I  could  not  help  bitterly 
regretting  his  not  enjoying  this  satisfaction,  and  the  more  I 
was  charmed  with  these  lovely  animals  myself,  the  more  sin- 
cerely I  lamented  his  Missing  that,  which  of  all  other  sights 
would  have  pleased  him  most.  But  I  hope  on  some  future 
occasion  it  may  be  in  his  power.  The  elegance  of  these  crea- 
tures is  past  description,  and  I  admired  them  so  long,  that  I 
had  scarcely  time  for  the  next  sight,  which  is  just  behind 
them,  and  indeed  makes  part  of  the  same  buildings.  This  is 
no  less  than  thirteen  Zebras.  But  as  you  have  often  seen  the 
Queen's  ass,  I  need  not  describe  them,  for  they  are  exactly 
the  same.  They  have  been  endeavouring  to  break  them  to 
draw  in  the  Kings  carriage,  which  would  look  very  pretty, 
but  tho'  several  grooms  have  been  maimed  and  some  even 
killed  in  the  attempt,  they  are  as  untamed  as  ever,  and  tho' 
many  of  them  have  been  colted  in  the  stables,  and  began  as 
early  as  possible,  it  has  had  no  effect.  They  are  infinitely 
stronger  as  well  as  taller  than  the  common  breed  of  asses, 
and  I  should  think  mules  bred  from  them  would  both  be  use- 
ful and  much  handsomer  than  those  they  at  present  have.* 

*  Southey  visited  the  same  gardens  and  his  account  of  conditions  twenty 
years  later  supplements  admirably  that  of  Miss  Schaw.  The  collection  of 
birds  he  considers  "the  richest  I  ever  saw,"  but  the  menagerie  was  "ill  man- 
aged and  ill  supplied."  "I  was  almost  sickened,"  he  writes,  "at  the  pestilential 
filth  in  which  the  beasts  are  confined.  The  fine  old  elephant  of  John  V  was 
put  upon  a  short  allowance  of  cabbages,  but  as  those  who  diminished  his 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  249 

Good  night,  it  is  very  late  and  I  write  by  the  light  of  a  lamp, 
as  they  use  no  candles  in  bed-chambers  here. 

The  King  George  packet  sails  to  morrow,  and  I  am  set 
down  to  finish  the  last  letter  to  you  from  the  continent.  My 
hopes  are  now  on  the  wing,  and  I  trust  that  goodness  which 
has  hitherto  protected  me,  will  carry  me  safely  to  the  end  of 
my  long  voyage,  and  let  me  find  my  friends  as  much  mine  as 
ever. 

We  were  yesterday  a  considerable  way  in  the  country, 
where  the  depredations  of  the  earthquake  are  very  visible; 
but  our  principal  object  was  the  fine  aqueduct,  on  which  it 
was  able  to  make  no  impression.  So  compact  and  firmly  are 
the  stones  united,  and  so  indissoluble  is  the  composition  with 
which  they  are  cemented,  that  tho'  many  years  have  passed 
since  the  water  first  began  to  flow  thro'  it,  it  is  not  the  least 
impaired.  It  has  its  beginning  sixteen  miles  up  the  country 
and  comes  over  many  high  mountains  in  its  way  to  Lisbon. 
The  arches  on  which  it  rests  are  for  that  reason  very  unequal ; 
on  the  mountains  not  exceeding  three  or  four  feet,  and  in  the 
valleys  often  rising  to  above  two  hundred,  as  I  am  informed, 
for  my  eye  is  not  exact  enough  to  judge  of  heights.  The 
pillars  which  support  these  arches  are  plain,  but  strike  the 
Imagination  with  an  idea  of  the  greatest  possible  strength. 
The  aqueduct  seems  to  be  from  forty  to  fifty  feet  in  breadth, 
but  the  water  does  not  take  up  above  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  of 
it.  A  walk  is  raised  on  each  side,  and  the  roof  appears  about 
sixteen  feet  high.  At  the  distance  of  every  fifty  feet  is  an 
opening,  which  admits  the  light  and  the  air,  but  is  so  con- 
trived as  to  exclude  rain.  These  look  like  little  towers  on  the 

food  could  not  lessen  his  appetite,  the  poor  animal  died.  There  are  only  three 
zebras  remaining ;  they  [were]  bred  in  this  country  and  some  attempts  were 
made  to  break  them  in.  The  late  Don  Jaze  de  Menezes,  son  of  the  Marquis 
of  Marialva  [the  friend  of  William  Beckford]  actually  drove  them  in  an 
open  carriage,  till  they  broke  two  or  three  carriages  for  him,  and  some  of 
them  had  killed  themselves  by  struggling"  (pp.  314-316). 


250     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

outside.*  I  have  been  particular  as  to  this  fine  piece  of  Archi- 
tecture, as  I  do  not  recollect  ever  to  have  read  a  description 
of  it,  nor  indeed  of  Lisbon  by  any  hand,  who  has  done  it 
justice.  Mr  Twissf  says  a  great  deal,  but  his  travels  seem 
only  a  journal  of  his  own  bad  humours,  prejudices  and  mis- 
takes, for  I  believe  he  would  not  willingly  tell  a  falsehood, 
but  I  am  at  a  loss  to  think  where  he  found  the  dirty  scenes 
he  describes.  I  have  been  at  no  pains  to  avoid  them,  yet  have 
met  with  no  such  thing. 

After  our  return  from  the  country,  we  took  a  whole  round 
of  the  town,  which  tho'  spacious,  I  do  not  like  so  well  as 
Edinburgh.  Their  principal  street  (the  Rua  Augusta)  is 
neither  so  broad,  nor  near  so  long  as  our  High  street,  and 
tho'  the  people  live  over  head  of  each  other  as  we  do,  the 
buildings  are  not  so  high,  nor  appear  so  well  built,  and  the 

*  The  Church  of  St.  Roque  and  the  aqueduct  were  the  usual  "sights"  for 
visitors  to  Lisbon  at  this  time.  The  latter,  whose  "stupendous  height"  filled 
Southey  "with  astonishment,"  brought  water  into  Lisbon  from  springs  ten 
miles  away,  as  far  as  Chellas,  spanning  a  valley  upon  huge  arches,  the  highest 
of  which  was  over  250  feet  in  altitude.  This  structure,  the  Aqueducto  das 
Aguas  Livres,  was  built  under  John  V  by  Manuel  da  Maia,  and  so  well 
built  that  it  escaped  injury  from  the  earthquake.  It  has  127  arches  in  a  single 
row,  with  pointed  openings. 

Of  this  famous  work  Beckford,  the  author  of  Vathek,  writes,  "I  sat  down 
on  a  fragment  of  rock  under  the  great  arch  and  looked  up  at  the  vaulted 
stone-work  so  high  above  me,  with  a  sensation  of  awe  not  unallied  to  fear; 
as  if  the  building  I  gazed  upon  was  the  performance  of  some  immeasurable 
being  endowed  with  gigantic  strength,  who  might  perhaps  take  a  fancy  to 
saunter  about  his  work  this  morning,  and,  in  mere  awkwardness,  crush  me  to 
atoms"  (Letters,  II,  36). 

t  Richard  Twiss,  Travels  through  Portugal  and  Spain  in  1772  and  1773, 
London,  1775. 

From  all  accounts  the  Lisbon  of  this  period  was  dirty  and  unsanitary, 
Miss  Schaw  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Southey  says  that  Lisbon  at 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  notorious  for  its  dilapidation,  inse- 
curity, and  dirt.  "The  filth  of  the  city  is  indeed  astonishing.  Everything  is 
thrown  into  the  street  and  all  the  refuse  of  the  kitchen  and  dead  animals  are 
exposed  to  the  scorching  sun"  (p.  213).  And  Byron — 

"The  dingy  denizens  are  rear'd  in  dirt; 
Ne  personage  of  high  or  mean  degree 
Doth  care  for  cleanness  of  surtout  or  shirt, 
Though  shent  with  Egypt's  plague,  unkempt,  unwash'd,  unhurt." 

Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage,  I,  xvii. 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  251 

jalousies*  on  the  windows  give  them  all  a  look  of  prisons. 
In  this  street  is  the  arsenal,  which  is  a  fine  building.  The 
town  is  fast  getting  the  better  of  her  Misfortunes.  Many  of 
the  streets  are  rebuilding  in  a  handsome  and  modern  manner, 
and  one  noble  square  is  finished,  in  a  corner  of  which  is  Mr 
Paisley's  house.f  Here  is  a  statue  of  the  present  King  and 
the  favourite  Minister,  the  Marquis  of  Pombal.  It  is  no  easy 
matter  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  character  of  this  statesman, 
either  as  a  private  man  or  a  minister,  one  party  extolling 
him,  and  another  abusing  him.  He  is  hated  by  the  princess 
of  Brazil, J  in  proportion  as  he  is  loved  by  her  father,  and  the 
moment  the  king  dies  he  will  find  all  the  weight  of  her  resent- 
ment. She  is  said  to  be  very  bigoted  in  matters  of  religion, 
and  gloomy  and  vindictive  in  her  temper.  The  moderation 
of  the  minister,  and  the  lenity  with  which  he  is  supposed  to 
have  inspired  the  king  towards  hereticks  give  great  offence  to 
her  and  the  clergy,  while  the  nobility  in  general  are  his 
enemies  from  his  endeavours  to  lessen  their  exorbitant  power, 

*  Jalousies  were  iron  or  wooden  shutters,  with  fixed  slats  sloping  upwards 
from  the  outside.  They  could,  as  a  rule,  be  raised  or  lowered,  at  the  will  of 
the  person  within,  enabling  her  to  look  out  without  being  seen. 

f  The  portion  of  the  city  that  was  rebuilding  was  the  lower  town  (Cidade 
Baixa)  near  the  river.  The  Praga  do  Commercio,  the  "noble  square"  of  the 
text,  was  the  centre  of  its  business  life.  From  this  square  running  back  along 
the  higher  ground  was  the  Rua  Augusta,  connecting  it  with  the  Praga  de  Dom 
Pedro,  with  its  wavy  pavement,  called  Roly-Poly  Square  by  the  British 
sailors.  Along  the  Rua  Augusta  were  the  commercial  houses  and  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  Praga  do  Commercio,  extending  west  along  the  Arsenal 
street,  was  the  huge  Arcenal  da  Marinha,  which  Miss  Shaw  wrongly  locates 
on  the  Rua  Augusta.  (See  plan  of  the  city  in  Voyage  en  Portugal,  1789-1790, 
1797-)  In  the  centre  of  the  Praga  do  Commercio  was  the  equestrian  statue  of 
Joseph  I,  erected  only  the  year  before,  from  which  later  came  the  name, 
Black  Horse  Square,  given  by  the  British.  On  the  south  front  of  the  pedestal 
was  a  bust  of  Pombal.  This  bust  was  removed  in  April,  1777,  after  Pombal's 
fall;  and  the  city  arms  in  bronze  substituted.  It  was  restored  in  1833.  Mr. 
Paisley's  house  was  on  a  corner  of  the  Praga  do  Commercio. 

J  Joseph  I's  eldest  daughter,  Maria  Francesca,  Princess  of  Brazil,  married 
her  uncle,  Dom  Pedro,  his  youngest  brother.  They  succeeded  to  the  throne  in 
1777,  but  as  a  consequence  of  continued  in-breeding  were  too  feeble-minded 
to  rule  with  any  regard  for  the  welfare  of  Portugal.  Maria  was  fanatically 
religious  and  Pombal  was  overthrown  by  a  combination  of  a  court  camarilla 
and  the  clerics. 


252     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

and  reduce  them  to  the  laws  of  their  country  and  of  human- 
ity. JMor  does  he  gain  much  approbation  from  the  middle 
and  low  class,  who  unused  to  liberty,  know  not  how  to  make 
it  sit  easy.  The  severity  with  which  he  has  punished  the  crime 
of  murder,  particularly  assassination  in  the  streets,  has  been 
attended  with  such  success,  that  the  streets  of  Lisbon  are  now 
as  safe  as  those  of  any  town  in  Europe,  tho'  they  are  still 
entirely  dark. 

I  was  at  a  play  a  few  Nights  ago  and  saw  an  actress,  who 
had  been  mistress  to  a  Marquis,  whose  Jealousy  on  her  account 
had  made  him  murder  no  less  than  three  suspected  rivals. 
For  the  last  he  was  banished,  and  would  have  been  broke  on 
the  wheel,  notwithstanding  his  high  rank,  had  not  the  prin- 
cess of  Brazil  obtained  him  the  liberty  of  retiring.  The  play- 
house is  not  fine,  the  scenes  paltry  and  the  play  unintelligible 
from  the  action  at  least.*  I  wished  to  see  the  Portugueze 
manner  of  dressing,  and  had  no  other  way  than  this,  as  they 
are  ordered  to  keep  strictly  to  the  mode.  They  have  a  very 
good  Italian  opera  when  the  court  is  at  Lisbon,  but  no  ladies 
are  admitted.  This  they  say  is  owing  to  the  Queen,  who  is 
extremely  jealous  of  her  Royal  consort,  and  if  we  credit 

*  The  theatre  was  in  the  Rua  d'os  Condes,  and  the  employment  of  men 
for  the  female  parts  aroused  ridicule  and  disgust  among  French  and  British 
travellers.  "Comme  il  est  interdit,"  writes  the  author  of  the  Voyage  en 
Portugal,  "aux  femmes  depuis  quelques  annees  de  monter  sur  le  theatre,  les 
hommes  sont  obliges  de  jouer  leur  roles.  Rien  de  plus  ridicule  ni  de  plus 
degoutant  a  la  fois  que  de  voir  sous  les  habits  d'une  femme  un  homme  a 
larges  epaules  et  menton  barbu,"  etc.  (II,  p.  44).  Beckford  writes,  "The  play 
afforded  me  more  disgust  than  amusement ;  the  theatre  is  low  and  narrow, 
and  the  actors,  for  there  are  no  actresses,  below  criticism.  Her  Majesty's 
absolute  commands  [that  is,  of  the  former  Princess  of  Brazil,  see  preceding 
note]  having  swept  females  off  the  stage,  their  parts  are  acted  by  calvish 
young  fellows.  Judge  what  pleasing  effect  this  metamorphosis  must  produce, 
especially  in  the  dancers,  where  one  sees  a  stout  shepherdess  in  virgin  white, 
with  a  soft  blue  beard,  clutching  a  nosegay  in  a  fist  that  would  almost  have 
knocked  down  a  Goliath,  and  a  train  of  milk-maids  attending  her  enormous 
footsteps,  tossing  their  petticoats  over  their  heads  at  every  step.  Such  sprawl- 
ing, jerking,  and  ogling  I  never  saw  before,  and  hope  never  to  see  again" 
(II,  71-72).  The  royal  opera  house  of  Sao  Carlos  was  not  built  until  1792- 
1793- 


SOJOURN  IN  LISBON  253 

report,  not  without  reason.  Tho'  the  natural  character  of  the 
men  is  that  of  jealousy  and  suspicion,  there  is  no  place  where 
the  women  are  held  in  such  estimation  and  treated  with  such 
respect.  Every  wish  is  gratified  except  that  of  liberty,  and 
even  the  husband  who  confines  his  cama  with  bolts  and  ja- 
lousies, never  approaches  her,  but  with  the  respect  and  adula- 
tion of  a  passionate  lover.  Indeed  the  violence  of  his  love 
is  his  only  excuse.  I  have  been  in  the  parlour  of  several  of  the 
genteelist  monasteries,  and  conversed  with  many  nuns  of  the 
first  fashion.  They  are  however  very  hard  of  access,  and  it 
requires  no  small  interest  to  see  some  of  them.  They  appeared 
very  much  pleased  with  us,  particularly  with  Fanny,  whose 
person  and  manners  they  highly  complimented.  They  never 
suffered  us  to  leave  them,  without  presenting  us  with  some 
little  mark  of  their  approbation,  and  we  have  got  as  many 
artificial  flowers  as  would  dress  a  whole  Assembly. 

I  will  have  no  other  opportunity  of  writing  from  hence. 
My  next  letter  will  be  from  Greenock.  Had  it  not  been  our 
care  for  the  boys,  we  would  have  returned  by  the  way  of 
France,  and  Mr  Neilson  is  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
route.  This  would  have  been  very  agreeable,  nor  were  we 
restrained  on  account  of  our  finances,  as  Mr  Paisley  offered 
us  an  unlimited  credit  to  draw  on  him  from  every  town  that 
was  in  our  route.  Indeed  his  friendship  and  attention  are  not 
to  be  described,  and  I  consider  it  as  no  small  acquisition  to 
have  gained  his  acquaintance,  tho'  my  travels  had  afforded 
nothing  more. 

And  now,  my  friend,  adieu  to  our  epistolary  correspond- 
ence, which  I  hope  ends  here,  as  I  sincerely  hope  we  may 
never  be  again  as  long  parted,  and  that  our  travels  shall 
mutually  serve  to  amuse  our  winter  evenings,  when  we  shall 
travel  them  over  again  in  the  friendly  circle  of  a  cheerful 
hearth.  I  have  wrote  my  brother  under  cover  to  Lord  T — d, 
Ld  C —  B,  C — M,*  and  if  he  is  in  Britain  he  will  not  fail  to 

*  "T d"  is  manifestly  Lord  Townshend,  in  all  probability  George, 


254     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

get  some  of  them.  Be  sure  to  have  a  letter  for  me  at  Green- 
ock,  to  the  care  of  your  old  correspondent  George  Neil,  who 
is  land-waiter  there.  How  many  of  your  letters  has  he  had 
charge  of !  Let  me  know  about  my  brother.  I  will  positively 
say  Adieu,  Adieu.* 

Marquess  Townshend,  1724-1807,  who  had  the  boys  under  his  protection  in 
1776-1778.  The  identification  of  the  others  is  unimportant. 

*  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  from  the  internal  evidence  of  the  narrative 
just  how  long  the  Lisbon  visit  lasted  or  just  when  the  party  sailed  for  Scot- 
land. As  nearly  as  can  be  made  out  the  duration  of  the  visit  was  somewhat 
less  than  four  weeks,  so  that  the  departure  could  not  have  been  earlier  than 
the  middle  of  January.  It  might  have  been  later.  In  any  case  Miss  Schaw, 
Fanny,  the  boys,  and  Neilson  could  hardly  have  reached  Greenock  before  the 
end  of  the  month  or  early  in  February,  1776.  It  is  strange  that  in  the  narra- 
tive no  mention  is  made  of  Christmas  or  New  Year's  festivities,  for  the 
visit  included  both  of  these  festal  days. 


APPENDICES 


APPENDICES 


I.  The  Highland  Emigration. 

IT  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  among  the  many  experiences  of  her 
journey,  Miss  Schaw  should  have  come  into  contact  with  a  phase  of 
that  highland  emigration  which  is  a  conspicuous  feature  of  Scottish- 
American  history  just  before  the  Revolutionary  War.  Between  1763 
and  1776  there  left  Scotland  many  thousands  of  her  people — the  total 
number  is  not  known — who  had  lived  in  towns,  valleys,  and  islands 
of  North  Britain,  from  the  southwest  to  the  uttermost  north,  includ- 
ing the  Hebrides,  the  Orkneys,  and  the  Shetland  Islands.  They  repre- 
sented nearly  all  grades  of  the  population — tacksmen,  farmers  and 
other  tenants,  and  laborers,  and  covered  many  gradations  of  wealth, 
from  the  substantial  and  prosperous  chief  tenants  to  the  very  poor, 
unable  to  maintain  themselves  and  their  families.  These  people,  mi- 
grating at  different  times  and  under  different  conditions,  seem  all  to 
have  been  attracted  by  the  fertile  and  cheap  lands  of  the  New  World 
and  by  the  opportunities  these  lands  offered  of  making  a  living.  They 
went  to  nearly  all  the  colonies,  but  chiefly  to  Nova  Scotia,  New  York, 
and  the  Carolinas. 

The  causes  of  this  movement  have  never  been  adequately  ex- 
plained, although  there  is  a  great  mass  of  evidence,  printed  and  in 
manuscript,  upon  which  a  thorough  study  might  be  based.  In  general 
it  was  due  to  the  breaking  up  of  the  clan  organi2ation  and  the  transi- 
tion from  tribal  to  civil  power  and  authority,  constituting  a  veritable 
revolution  in  Scottish  highland  life  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Three 
results  followed :  an  increase  of  anarchy  and  crime ;  a  substitution  of 
money  payments  for  payments  in  kind  in  rents  and  other  transac- 
tions ;  and  an  increasing  pressure  of  population  upon  the  food  supply. 
The  landed  proprietors  or  their  chief  tenants,  the  tacksmen,  began  to 


258     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

absorb  small  farms  into  large  ones,  evict  tenants  or  raise  rents,  and 
harry  the  lesser  folk  with  exactions  and  heavy  oppressions,  whereas 
the  latter,  bred  to  a  farming  and  stock-raising  life,  were  unable  to 
find  new  forms  of  livelihood.  The  old  linen  manufacture  was  in 
decay,  while  the  redundancy  of  population  rendered  stock  and  cattle 
raising  and  the  time-honored  methods  of  agriculture  a  precarious  and 
insufficient  means  of  subsistence.  By  witness  of  all  whose  testimony 
has  been  recorded,  the  chief  cause  of  the  movement  was  the  rise  of 
rents,  and  the  difficulties  of  subsistence  due  to  the  enhanced  cost  of 
provisions  and  other  necessaries  of  life.  The  situation  was  in  many 
ways  not  unlike  that  which  accompanied  the  enclosure  movement  in 
England  in  the  sixteenth,  eighteenth,  and  nineteenth  centuries. 

The  emigrants  complained  of  all  of  these  conditions  as  making  it 
impossible  for  them  to  remain  in  Scotland.  "It  is  a  grief  to  our 
spirits,"  said  one,  "to  leave  our  native  land  and  venture  Upon  such  a 
dangerous  voyage;  but  there  is  no  help  for  it.  We  are  not  able  to 
stand  the  high  rents  and  must  do  something  for  bread  or  see  our 
families  reduced  to  beggary."  But  just  who  were  responsible  for  the 
situation  is  not  so  easy  to  determine.  A  recent  writer  has  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  one  cause  of  the  emigration  was  the  "tacksman 
system."  The  tacksmen  were  chief  tenants,  often  men  of  wealth  and 
social  standing,  who  held  their  lands  of  the  proprietors  or  lords  of 
the  soil  on  long  leases  and  were  accustomed  to  "subset"  these  lands 
to  undertenants.  Both  classes  suffered,  for  while  some  of  the  tacks- 
men  were  among  the  oppressors,  others,  confronted  with  the  prospect 
of  heightened  rents  and  lowered  social  position,  themselves  joined  the 
movement  and  came  to  America,  bringing  with  them  not  only  much 
wealth,  but  also  many  of  their  lesser  tenants,  who  followed  them 
partly  from  motives  of  clan  loyalty  and  partly  in  the  hope  of  better- 
ing their  condition  (Miss  Adam,  in  The  Scottish  Historical  Review, 
July,  1919). 

Among  those  who  were  driven  from  Scotland  because  of  the  in- 
crease of  lawlessness  and  crime  was  James  Hogg,  who  came  to  North 
Carolina  in  1774.  He  agreed  that  "others  complain,  with  too  much 
justice,  of  arbitrary  and  oppressive  services,  of  racked  rents  and  cruel 
taskmasters,"  but  declared  that  in  his  case  he  and  his  family  were 
compelled  to  leave  because  of  "the  barbarity  of  the  country,"  meaning 
thereby  the  theft  and  pilfering  of  his  crops  and  stock  by  the  people 
of  the  neighborhood,  the  burning  of  his  house  and  other  buildings, 
and  the  threats  which  were  made  against  his  own  life.  "A  list  of  the 
murders,  robberies,  and  thefts,"  he  wrote,  "committed  with  impunity 


APPENDICES  259 


there  during  my  residence  in  Caithness,  would  surprise  a  Mohawk 
or  a  Cherokee.  The  loss  of  so  many  people  and  the  numbers  they 
may  in  time  draw  after  them  will  probably  be  missed  by  the  land- 
holders, but  let  them  learn  to  treat  their  fellow  creatures  with  more 
humanity.  Instead  of  looking  on  myself  as  an  enemy  to  my  country 
in  being  accessory  to  the  carrying  off  so  many  people,  I  rejoice  in 
being  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  Providence  to  punish  oppression 
which  is  by  far  too  general,  and  I  am  glad  to  understand  that  already 
some  of  those  haughty  landlords  now  find  it  necessary  to  court  and 
caress  those  same  poor  people,  whom  they  lately  despised  and  treated 
as  slaves  or  beasts  of  burden"  (Scots  Magazine,  36,  pp.  345-346). 

Miss  Schaw's  fear  that  the  emigration  of  so  many  able-bodied  men 
would  have  a  bad  effect  on  recruiting  was  realized  during  the  Ameri- 
can War,  when  the  obtaining  of  soldiers  from  Scotland,  always  a 
fertile  field  for  the  recruiting  sergeant,  became  exceedingly  and  in- 
creasingly difficult. 


II.  The  Martin  Family. 

VyOLONEL  SAMUEL  MARTIN,  of  whom  Miss  Schaw  gives  an  engaging 
account,  was  well  called  the  "Father  of  Antigua,"  for  he  was  born 
on  the  island  in  the  last  decade  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  except 
for  three  trips  to  England,  covering  probably  less  than  ten  years  in 
all,  lived  continuously  there  until  the  very  eve  of  the  Revolution. 
Thus  his  long  life  of  more  than  eighty  years  was  coincident  with 
the  most  important  period  in  the  history  of  the  colony,  and  touched 
at  many  points  its  industrial,  social,  and  political  development. 

The  Martins  came  originally  from  Ireland,  some  of  its  members 
migrating  early  to  Surinam  and  the  West  Indies,  and  settling  finally, 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  in  Antigua.  Many  of  the  later  members 
returned  to  England,  and  as  officials  under  government  or  officers  in 
the  army  and  navy  rose  to  eminence  in  their  professions,  a  few  attain- 
ing the  honors  of  knighthood.  Others  went  to  the  American  continent, 
to  Boston,  New  York,  and  North  Carolina,  becoming  representative 
men  of  their  communities,  and  acquiring,  as  a  rule,  ample  wealth, 
wherewith  to  maintain  social  positions  commensurate  with  their 
prominence.  The  family  as  a  whole  got  widely  scattered  during  the 


260     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

colonial  period,  but  its  members  never  lost  their  regard  for  Antigua, 
retaining  property  there,  and  manifesting  interest  in  its  welfare  and 
a  desire  to  be  of  service  to  its  people  whenever  the  occasion  arose.  In 
England  the  most  prominent  sons  of  the  family  dwelt  in  or  near  Lon- 
don, in  Surrey,  Dorset,  Herts,  and  Berks,  where,  supported  in  part 
from  the  income  of  their  Antigua  plantations,  they  possessed  country 
seats  and  lived  the  lives  of  country  gentlemen.  Wherever  Martins 
resided,  whether  at  "Green  Castle"  in  Antigua,  "Rockhall"  in  Long 
Island,  or  in  England  at  Ashtead  in  Surrey,  Great  Canford  in  Dorset, 
or  "White  Knights"  near  Reading,  they  were  of  more  than  ordinary 
influence  and  importance.  Some  of  them  rose  to  positions  of  high 
distinction,  particularly  in  the  navy. 

Because  of  the  meagre  records  of  the  time,  the  various  members  of 
the  family  are  not  always  easy  to  identify,  and,  in  consequence,  much 
confusion  has  resulted  among  those  who  have  endeavored  to  deal 
with  the  family  genealogy.  In  three  generations  there  were  five 
Josiahs,  and  in  four  generations,  six  Samuels ;  and  in  addition  there 
were  others  bearing  the  same  names,  who  do  not  appear  to  have  be- 
longed to  this  particular  Martin  line  at  all.  Even  with  all  the  avail- 
able evidence  before  us,  there  are  still  some  difficulties  that  cannot  be 
surmounted. 

Colonel  Martin's  father,  also  a  Samuel,  was  the  son  of  Samuel 
Martin  of  Dublin  county,  Ireland,  fourth  in  descent  from  a  Josiah 
Martin  of  the  same  place  (Debrett,  Baronetage,  ed.  1840,  p.  374). 
He  was  probably  born  in  Surinam,  but  appears  in  Antigua  as  early 
as  1678.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  conspicuous  men  of  the  island,  an 
ensign  and  major  in  the  militia,  a  member  of  the  assembly,  of  which 
he  was  speaker  in  1689,  a  councillor,  treasurer  and  collector  of  im- 
posts, and,  toward  the  end  of  his  life,  member  of  a  committee  to  com- 
pile a  body  of  laws.  In  1699  he  is  spoken  of  as  "of  great  estate,  good 
sence,  and  repute."  That  he  lacked  the  urbanity  and  instinctive  kindli- 
ness of  nature  which  Miss  Schaw  noted  in  his  son,  appears  from  the 
severity  of  his  attitude  toward  his  slaves,  by  whom  he  was  murdered 
on  Christmas  Day,  1701.  "We  have  lost  a  very  useful  man  in  Major 
Martin,"  wrote  Governor  Codrington.  "I  am  afraid  he  was  guilty 
of  some  unusual  act  of  severity  or  rather  some  indignity  toward  the 
Coromantes,  the  best  and  most  faithful  of  our  slaves."*  Though  the 

*  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Colonial,  1701,  pp.  720-721 ;  1702,  p.  167.  The 
murder  was  a  shocking  affair  and  caused  wide  alarm  throughout  the  island. 
Whether  the  "Major  Samuel  Martyn"  of  Antigua  mentioned  in  1698  as 
engaged  in  illicit  trade  and  called  "a  great  villain"  by  an  enemy  of  doubtful 


APPENDICES  261 


young  Samuel  was  but  a  child  when  this  tragic  event  took  place,  he 
must  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  its  significance,  for  Miss  Schaw 
presents  a  pleasing  picture  of  the  large  troop  of  healthy  negroes  upon 
the  "Green  Castle"  plantation — numbering  about  three  hundred  at 
this  time — cheerfully  performing  the  tasks  imposed  by  a  kind  and 
beneficent  master,  a  prince  of  subjects  rather  than  an  owner  of  slaves. 
Many  of  them  had  been  freed,  as  Miss  Schaw  says,  and  others  were 
freed  later  by  Martin  in  his  will. 

Of  Colonel  Martin's  life  we  have  but  a  slender  outline.  He  was 
born  about  1690 — the  exact  date  being  uncertain,  because  statements 
differ  as  to  the  age  at  which  he  died — and  he  died  in  Antigua  in 
November,  1776,  a  little  less  than  two  years  after  Miss  Schaw's  visit. 
His  early  career  is  obscure,  owing  to  the  presence  of  more  than  one 
Samuel  Martin  on  the  island,  but  he  seems  to  have  been  the  Samuel 
of  "Five  Islands"  plantation,  who  was  major  of  militia  in  1707  and 
of  the  troop  of  mounted  horse  or  carabineers  in  1712.  In  1716  he  was 
elected  to  the  assembly  and,  except  for  a  trip  to  England  in  1716- 
1717,  continued  to  serve  either  as  deputy  or  speaker  until  he  again 
left  the  colony  in  1729.  He  married,  before  1714,  Frances  Yeamans, 
daughter  of  John  Yeamans,  the  deputy  governor  (1693-1711),  but 
she  died  and  he  married,  as  his  second  wife,  Sarah  Wyke,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Edward  Wyke,  deputy  governor  of  Montserrat,  and  widow  of 
William  Irish  of  the  same  island.  His  fourth  child,  Henry,  the 
second  son  by  his  second  wife,  was  born  in  Dorset,  England,  in  1733, 
so  he  probably  remained  in  England  on  his  second  visit  for  a  number 
of  years.  Soon  after  his  return  he  must  have  been  commissioned  a 
colonel  of  militia,  for  Miss  Schaw  tells  us  that  in  1772  he  had  been 
head  of  the  militia  "upwards  of  forty  years."  In  1750  he  was  again 
elected  to  the  assembly  and  chosen  speaker  at  its  first  session.  From 
this  time  forward,  living  on  his  "Green  Castle"  plantation  in  New 
Division,  which  was  picturesquely  located  in  Bermudian  Valley  under 
Windmill  Hill  (Davy's  West  Indies,  p.  408),  he  led  an  increasingly 
peaceful  and  prosperous  life,  resigning  his  place  as  speaker  in  1763, 
and  his  seat  in  the  assembly  in  1768.  At  the  urgent  request  of  his 
children,  three  of  whom,  Samuel,  Jr.,  Henry,  and  William  Byam, 
had  been  living  there  for  a  number  of  years  (a  nephew,  William, 
was  a  business  man  in  London) ,  he  went  to  England,  when  nearly 

character  is  our  Major  Samuel  we  cannot  say.  It  is  likely,  though  the  charges 
need  not  be  taken  at  their  face  value.  Charges  and  counter-charges  were  com- 
mon enough  in  all  the  colonies  at  that  time.  Nevertheless  the  elder  Samuel 
would  appear  to  have  been  a  man  of  a  vigorous  personality  and  somewhat 
irascible  temper.  Ib.,  1697-1698,  pp.  194,  195-197,  338. 


262     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

eighty  years  of  age,  doubtless  with  the  expectation  of  spending  his 
declining  years  there.  But  as  he  told  Miss  Schaw,  he  could  not  stand 
"the  dreary  climate."  He  spent  his  time  partly  in  Surrey  and  partly  in 
Dorset,  and  at  the  former  place,  August  13,  1773,  made  his  will,  add- 
ing codicils  and  generally  settling  his  affairs.  He  must  have  returned 
to  Antigua  soon  afterwards,  glad  to  get  back,  as  he  himself  said,  to 
the  "warm  sunshine"  of  his  semitropical  island.  He  died  on  the  island, 
where  he  had  been  born,  and  where  he  had  spent  more  than  three 
score  and  ten  of  the  more  than  four  score  years  of  his  life.  His  only 
venture  into  the  field  of  authorship,  as  far  as  we  know,  is  a  pamphlet 
entitled  An  Essay  upon  Plantership,  humbly  inscribed  to  his  Excel- 
lency  George  Thomas,  Esq.,  Chief  Governor  of  All  the  Leeward 
Islands,  As  a  Monument  to  Ancient  Friendship,  which  was  written 
in  Antigua  and  first  published  there  about  1755.  A  third  edition  was 
issued  in  London  in  1763,  and  a  fourth,  a  work  of  sixty- two  pages,  in 
1765.  The  treatise  shows  Colonel  Martin  to  have  been  a  model 
planter  and  a  high-minded,  considerate  master. 

Colonel  Martin,  according  to  his  own  statement,  had  twenty-three 
children,  but  of  this  number  it  is  impossible  to  give  the  names  of 
more  than  seven:  Samuel,  Jr.,  and  Henrietta,  children  by  his  first 
wife,  and  George,  Henry,  Josiah,  William  Byam,  and  Fanny,  chil- 
dren by  his  second  wife.  That  many  of  his  children  died  young  is 
probable,  and  that  others  may  be  found  among  the  many  Martins 
whose  names  appear  in  the  records  of  Antigua  and  neighboring 
islands,  is  equally  likely. 

Samuel,  Jr.,  his  eldest  son,  was  born  in  Antigua,  September  l, 
1714.  He  went  to  England  when  but  a  lad,  possibly  accompanying 
his  father  on  the  latter's  second  trip  in  1729,  in  order  to  be  educated, 
as  there  were  no  educational  facilities  in  Antigua.  He  was  entered  at 
the  Inner  Temple  about  1740,  and  became  a  bencher  in  1747,  continu- 
ing in  residence  until  1761.  From  1742  to  1744  he  served  as  deputy 
agent  for  the  colony,  while  his  cousin,  John  Yeamans,  appointed 
agent  in  1727,  was  absent  on  leave  in  Antigua;  and  in  1744  he  was 
recommended  by  Yeamans  as  his  successor,  but  the  recommendation 
was  not  acted  on  by  the  colony.  He  became  a  member  of  parliament 
from  the  borough  of  Camelford  in  Cornwall,  1747-1768,  and  from 
the  Cinque  Port  Hastings,  1768-1774,  both  controlled  boroughs,  and 
he  took  some  part  in  parliamentary  business.  His  most  important 
post  was  that  of  first  secretary  to  the  Treasury  Board,  to  which  he 
was  appointed  in  1756,  serving  until  1762,  and  in  which  he  must 
have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  distribution  of  the  money  appro- 


APPENDICES  263 


priated  by  parliament  to  recompense  the  continental  colonies  for 
their  services  and  expenditures  in  the  French  and  Indian  War.*  He 
became  treasurer  to  the  Princess  Dowager  of  Wales,  possibly  after 
the  death  of  the  prince  in  1751,  and  continued  to  serve  in  that  capacity 
until  the  death  of  the  princess  in  1772,  "a  long  service,"  he  calls 
it  in  his  will.  In  the  latter  year,  possibly  to  compensate  for  the  loss 
of  his  office,  he  was  granted  an  annuity  of  £1200  out  of  the  four  and 
a  half  per  cent  duty,  until  a  grant  in  reversion  of  the  office  of  usher 
of  H.  M.  Exchequer,  a  post  paying  about  £4000  a  year,  should  take 
place.  But  he  died  before  he  could  profit  from  the  emoluments  of  the 
office,  which  had  been  enjoyed  since  1738  by  Horace  Walpole,  the  wit 
and  letter  writer,  who  survived  him  by  nine  years.  He  does  not  appear 
to  have  held  any  government  position  during  the  years  after  1772; 
but  we  occasionally  get  glimpses  of  various  business  activities,  by 
means  of  which  he  may  have  added  to  an  income  already  large.  He 
had  a  small  estate,  "Marshalswyck,"  near  St.  Albans,  Herts,  where 
he  was  living  in  retirement  in  1780,  when  sixty-six  years  of  age;  and 
another  in  Dorset,  possibly  near  Great  Canford,  about  two  miles 
southeast  from  Wimborne  minster  on  the  south  side  of  the  river 
Stour.  While  in  London,  after  1761,  he  lived  in  Queen  Street,  West- 
minster, until  1777,  and  afterwards  at  84  Pall  Mall.  He  died  Novem- 
ber 20,  1788,  and  was  buried  in  Great  Canford  churchyard,  where 
there  is  a  tablet  of  white  marble,  placed  by  his  executors,  his  brothers 
Henry  and  William  Byam,  and  his  intimate  friend  Ralph  Willet  of 
Merly,  with  the  inscription,  we  "loved  him  when  living  and  lament 
him  now  dead"  (Hutchins,  Dorset,  III,  310). 

When  Colonel  Martin,  the  father,  said  to  Miss  Schaw,  "my  eldest 
son  you  know  by  character  at  least,"  and  Miss  Schaw  in  reply  ex- 
pressed her  admiration  for  that  character,  both  were  probably  refer- 
ring to  Samuel's  chief  claims  to  the  remembrance  of  posterity — his 
duel  with  John  Wilkes  and  his  friendship  for  Hogarth,  who  painted 
his  portrait.f  Though  Hogarth's  biographers  mention  the  portrait, 

*  There  is  a  letter  from  Jared  Ingersoll  to  Martin  in  the  Fitch  Papers, 
II,  131-134,  which  deals  with  Connecticut's  claims  for  repayment  of  expenses 
for  provisions  furnished  in  1757.  The  letter  is  dated  June  29,  1761. 

fin  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  1805,  Pt.  I,  113,  a  correspondent  sends  a 
portrait  of  Martin,  with  the  following  letter :  "The  celebrity  of  Samuel  Mar- 
tin, Esq.,  some  time  secretary  to  the  Treasury  and  for  several  years  member 
for  Camelford,  and  the  memorable  event  of  his  duel  with  Mr.  Wilkes  may 
render  the  annexed  plate,  engraved  from  the  last  portrait  painted  for  him, 
an  acceptable  present  to  collectors  and  to  those  who  wish  to  illustrate  the 
works  either  of  Wilkes  or  Churchill.  It  is  well  known  that  in  1772  Mr. 


264     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

none  of  them  have  identified  Martin  or  have  been  able  to  give  any 
of  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  painted.  Hogarth  retained  the 
portrait  during  his  lifetime,  and  left  it  to  Martin  in  his  will,  and 
Martin  in  turn  left  it  to  his  brother,  William  Byam.  The  date  when  it 
was  painted  is  uncertain  and  its  present  whereabouts  are  unknown. 
It  is  probable  that  the  duel  with  Wilkes  grew  in  some  way  out  of 
Martin's  acquaintance  with  Hogarth  and  the  latter's  quarrel  with 
Wilkes  and  Churchill,  1762-1764,  for  it  took  place  at  the  same  time, 
although  its  immediate  cause  was  Wilkes's  attack  upon  Martin  in  the 
North  Briton  (March,  1763),  in  which  he  stigmatized  him  as  "a 
mean,  abject,  low-lived,  and  dirty  fellow"  (Bleackley's  Life  of 
Wilkes,  pp.  132-133,  and  for  the  duel,  pp.  135-137). 

During  the  period  after  1772,  Martin  performed  a  number  of  ser- 
vices for  his  Antiguan  and  North  Carolinian  friends  and  was  useful 
in  furthering  the  claims  of  some  of  the  Loyalists  before  the  commis- 
sion. Thomas  Macknight  applied  to  him  with  letters  from  his 
brother,  Governor  Josiah  Martin  (Dartmouth  Papers,  letter  of  July 
24,  1781),  and  there  is  a  paper  in  the  Public  Record  Office  bearing 
Samuel's  comments  on  Josiah's  own  claims  for  compensation  and  a 
pension.  In  these  comments,  Martin  suggested  that  the  Treasury 
grant  Josiah  a  post  in  the  recently  organized  government  of  Bengal. 
Though  nothing  came  of  the  suggestion,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
Josiah's  son,  Josiah,  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1772,  was  afterwards 
appointed  register  of  the  court  of  appeals  at  Benares,  a  post  that  he 
was  filling  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1799  (Gentleman's  Magazine, 
1799,  p.  1087). 

Samuel's  half-brother  Henry,  second  son  of  Colonel  Samuel  by  his 
second  wife  and  the  progenitor  of  the  present  English  line,  was  born 
in  England  in  1733,  and  as  far  as  we  know  never  visited  Antigua. 
He  early  rose  to  prominence  in  naval  circles,  being  for  many  years 
naval  commissioner  at  Portsmouth.  In  1790  he  was  appointed  comp- 
troller of  the  navy,  one  of  the  four  principal  officers  of  the  Navy 

Martin  declined  an  alderman's  gown,  and  that  he  was  a  frequent  speaker  in 
parliament  between  the  years  1782  and  1786  is  evident  from  the  ample  notice 
you  have  taken  of  him  in  your  parliamentary  debates  for  those  years." 

The  last  part  of  this  letter  is  quite  incorrect,  as  Martin  was  not  a  freeman 
of  the  City  of  London  and  so  could  have  had  no  opportunity  to  refuse  an 
alderman's  gown  (the  person  so  refusing  was  one  Joseph  Martin),  and  he 
was  not  in  parliament  during  the  years  from  1782  to  1786.  The  portrait  repro- 
duced in  the  magazine  cannot  be  that  painted  by  Hogarth,  who  died  in 
1764.  A  correspondent  would  hardly  have  called  a  picture  painted  twenty- 
five  years  before  a  man's  death  his  "last  portrait." 


APPENDICES  265 

Board,  an  office  which  he  retained  until  his  death.  He  was  knighted 
July  28,  1791,  and  died  August  1,  1794.  He  lived  in  Harley  Street, 
London,  but  died  apparently  in  Dorset,  possibly  at  Great  Canford. 
He  inherited  "Green  Castle"  from  his  father,  and  had  lands  also  in 
Ireland  and  England.  He  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters:  the 
eldest  son,  Samuel,  died  in  1782;  his  second,  Sir  Henry,  who  attained 
no  special  distinction,  died  in  1842;  his  third,  Josiah,  was  collector 
of  customs  in  Antigua,  succeeding  the  "Young  Martin,"  mentioned 
in  the  text,  and  died  in  1849;  his  fourth,  Thomas  By  am,  afterwards 
Sir  Thomas,  who  became  an  admiral  in  the  navy  and  whose  biog- 
raphy is  given  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,  died  in  1854. 
The  members  of  this  family  in  no  way  concern  us  here. 

Colonel  Samuel's  fourth  son  was  Josiah,  the  governor  of  North 
Carolina,  who  played  an  important  part  in  the  events  leading  to  the 
Revolution,  and  is  mentioned  a  number  of  times  in  Miss  Schaw's 
narrative,  though  it  is  doubtful  if  she  ever  met  him  personally.  To 
North  Carolina  historians  he  has  been  but  a  fleeting  figure,  and  they 
have  been  but  little  concerned  to  find  out  whence  he  came  or  whither 
he  went  after  he  left  the  colony.  It  is  worth  while,  therefore,  to  give 
a  sketch  of  his  life,  as  far  as  the  details  can  be  recovered. 

Josiah  was  born  in  Antigua  in  1737  and  was  probably  named  for 
his  uncle,  whose  daughter  he  afterwards  married.  He  joined  the  local 
militia  in  1754,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  but  in  1757  entered  the  regu- 
lar army  as  ensign  of  the  4th  Foot.  In  November,  1758,  he  was  com- 
missioned lieutenant  and  on  August  n,  1761,  was  bracketed  with 
Charles  Lee,  of  unsavory  reputation,  as  major  in  the  iO3d  or  Volun- 
teer Hunters.  The  next  year,  1762,  he  was  commissioned  lieutenant 
colonel  of  the  22d  Foot,  afterwards  Gage's  regiment,  but  in  1764  was 
transferred  to  the  68th,  which  was  located  in  Antigua  from  1764  to 
1772.  On  account  of  ill  health,  he  sold  his  commission  in  1769  and 
retired  from  active  military  service.  Just  where  he  was  stationed  dur- 
ing these  years  is  not  easy  to  ascertain,  but  he  must  have  spent  part 
of  his  time  in  Long  Island,  where  he  married  his  wife;  part  in 
London,  where  Miers,  a  London  jeweller  and  portrait  painter,  painted 
his  portrait  (a  miniature)  ;  and  part  in  Antigua,  whither  he  went  in 
1764.  There  he  was  appointed  by  Governor  Thomas  a  member  of  the 
council,  in  place  of  Arthur  Freeman,  whom  Thomas  had  suspended 
for  running  away  with  his  daughter,  and  he  retained  that  position, 
nominally  at  least,  until  Freeman's  return  from  England  in  1771. 
In  1761  he  married  his  cousin  Elizabeth  (apparently  five  years  his 
senior),  the  daughter  of  his  uncle  Josiah  by  his  first  wife,  a  Mrs. 


266     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Chester,  and  probably  both  before  and  after  that  event  lived  at 
"Rockhall,"  Josiah's  countryseat  in  Long  Island.  He  must  have 
resided  there  again  after  resigning  his  commission  in  1769,  perhaps 
for  two  years.  On  December  14,  1770,  he  was  named  governor  of 
North  Carolina,  through  the  influence  of  Governor  Tryon,  and  on 
May  i,  1771,  received  his  commission  and  instructions  from  England, 
through  Lord  Dunmore.  He  was  delayed  in  Long  Island  by  continued 
ill  health  and  did  not  reach  the  province  until  July  1 1  of  that  year, 
holding  the  first  meeting  of  his  council  on  August  12.  Samuel  John- 
ston of  North  Carolina  wrote  to  Thomas  Barker,  June  10,  1771,  "We 
are  in  daily  expectation  of  Mr.  Martin  our  new  Govr,  and  as  we  hear 
a  very  amiable  character  of  him  are  not  uneasy  at  the  approaching 
change"  (Letter  in  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission  files). 

Josiah  was  resident  governor  of  North  Carolina  until  1776.  He 
made  a  tour  of  the  colony  with  his  family  and  retinue  in  1772,  reach- 
ing Hillsboro  in  July,  and  although  he  endeavored  to  adjust  the 
difficulties  arising  out  of  the  Regulators'  War,  he  was  only  moderately 
successful.  Temperamentally  he  was  not  well  fitted  to  deal  with  the 
unrest  of  the  period,  and  has  always  been  harshly  judged,  not  only 
by  North  Carolina  historians,  but  also  by  all  whose  sympathies  are 
with  the  revolutionary  party.  He  was  energetic,  conscientious,  and 
loyal  to  the  cause  which  he  upheld,  but  he  lacked  wisdom  and  the 
spirit  of  compromise,  and  saw  in  the  colonial  movement,  as  did  Miss 
Schaw  herself,  only  an  exhibition  of  contumacy  and  sedition.  His 
letters  are  long  and  his  style  is  turgid  and  tiresome.  He  adhered 
inflexibly  to  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  prerogative,  and,  believing 
that  force  was  the  only  remedy  to  apply  in  the  case,  he  suffered  the 
fate  of  those  who  endeavor  to  coerce  rather  than  to  control  an 
uprising  based  on  legitimate  grievances.  He  showed  unquestioned 
ability  and  laid  his  plans  with  shrewdness  and  skill,  but  the  breaks 
in  the  game  went  against  him.  When  his  first  efforts  to  obtain  mili- 
tary assistance  failed,  he  fled  before  the  rising  storm,  and  somewhat 
to  the  discredit  of  his  valor,  if  not  of  his  discretion,  escaped  from 
New  Bern  on  May  24,  1775,  and  took  refuge,  first  at  Fort  Johnston 
(June  2),  and  then  on  board  the  Cruizer  in  the  Cape  Fear  River 
(June  18  or  19).  He  remained  in  the  province  (on  the  ships  of  war) 
"for  the  sake  of  correspondence  with  the  friends  of  government," 
and  not  only  organized  a  corps  of  Highlanders  for  an  attack  upon 
Wilmington  (N.  C.  R.  XXII,  616-617),  but  also  formulated  elabo- 
rate plans,  which  in  the  autumn  of  1775  he  sent  to  Lord  Dartmouth 
in  England,  by  Miss  Schaw's  brother,  Alexander — plans  providing 


APPENDICES  267 

for  a  combined  attack  of  land  and  sea  forces  for  the  purpose  of 
reducing  to  subjection  the  Southern  colonies.  On  January  10,  1776, 
he  removed  from  the  Cruizer  to  the  Scorpion,  and  from  that  vantage 
point  inaugurated  the  highland  campaign,  which  ended  in  the  defeat 
of  the  Highlanders  at  Moore's  Creek  bridge  on  February  27,  1776. 
In  March  he  changed  to  the  transport  Peggy,  and  when  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  and  Admiral  Warren,  who  arrived  during  the  spring,  de- 
cided that  further  effort  was  useless,  he  accompanied  them  to  Charles 
Town  and  remained  there  on  the  transport  during  June  and  most  of 
July.  With  his  departure  from  the  province  his  governorship  came 
to  an  actual,  though  not  a  legal,  end.  In  his  memorial  presented  to 
the  Loyalist  Claims  Commission,  he  said  that  he  never  acted  as  gover- 
nor after  his  flight  from  New  Bern;  but  we  know  that  he  issued 
a  proclamation  from  Charlotte  in  October,  1780,  when  he  was  with 
Lord  Cornwallis's  army  (Connor,  History  of  North  Carolina,  I,  469) 
and  that  he  continued  to  receive  his  salary  until  October,  1783  (The 
Royal  Commission  on  the  Losses  and  Services  of  the  American  Loyal- 
ists, Roxburghe  Club,  p.  290). 

Toward  the  end  of  July,  1776,  anxious  to  see  his  family,  and 
knowing  that  for  the  time  being  there  was  nothing  more  for  him  to 
do  in  the  South,  Martin  went  to  New  York  on  the  Sovereign  and  "for 
the  sake  of  rendering  immediate  service"  remained  there  for  nearly 
three  years,  living  with  the  family  at  "Rockhall."  During  this  time 
his  property  in  North  Carolina,  real  and  personal,  was  sold  by  order 
of  the  congress  at  New  Bern,  February  6,  1777.  What  his  employ- 
ments were  during  this  period  we  do  not  know.  He  was  certainly 
not  the  "Lt.  Col.  Martin"  who  presided  at  a  court-martial  in  New 
York,  March  27,  1778  (Order  Book  of  the  Three  Battalions  of 
Loyalists  commanded  by  Oliver  DeLancey,  1776-1778),  for  he  was 
no  longer  of  military  rank;  but  he  was  the  "Josiah  Martin"  ap- 
pointed a  member  of  the  Board  of  Associated  Loyalists  in  October, 
1780  (American  Manuscripts  in  the  Royal  Institution,  II,  198), 
though  he  can  have  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  work  of  that 
board.  In  the  autumn  of  1779,  he  accompanied  Clinton  on  the  latter's 
second  expedition  to  South  Carolina  ("at  the  desire  of  Sir  Hy  Clin- 
ton, who  proposed  to  make  him  governor  of  S.  Carolina  when  con- 
quered but  found  his  commission  did  not  enable  him  to  do  so,"  Public 
Record  Office,  C.  O.  5:318)  and  the  next  year  (August,  1780)  he 
joined  Cornwallis's  army  and  served  as  a  volunteer  until  April,  1781. 
He  made  a  number  of  efforts  to  return  to  military  command,  but 
without  success.  Those  of  his  former  highland  regiment  who  served 


268     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

under  Cornwallis  endeavored  to  raise  a  regiment  of  their  country- 
men, of  which  Martin  was  to  be  colonel,  but  the  results  were  unsatis- 
factory, as  only  about  a  hundred  men  returned  to  the  colors,  and  these, 
in  two  companies,  under  Captain  Forbes  at  Charles  Town  in  1781, 
and  Captain  Me  Arthur  at  Fort  Arbuthnot  in  1782,  were  compelled 
to  remain  on  guard  duty  (Ross,  Cornwallis  Correspondence,  I,  54; 
Loyalist  Muster  Rolls,  MSS.,  1777-1783). 

Cornwallis  thought  well  of  Martin  and  spoke  highly  of  his  ser- 
vices. "In  opening  up  channels  of  correspondence  with  our  friends  in 
North  Carolina,"  he  wrote  to  Lord  George  Germain,  "I  have  been 
greatly  assisted  by  Gov.  Martin,  from  whose  abilities  and  zeal  for 
the  service  I  have  on  many  occasions  derived  great  advantage" 
(August  20,  1780).  "Gov.  Martin  became  again  a  military  man,"  he 
wrote  to  the  same  after  the  battle  of  Camden,  "and  behaved  with  the 
spirits  of  a  young  volunteer"  (August  21,  1780).  "I  have  constantly 
received  the  most  zealous  assistance  from  Gov.  Martin  during  my 
command  in  the  southern  districts,"  he  again  wrote  (March  17, 
1781).  "Hoping  that  his  presence  would  tend  to  incite  the  loyal  sub- 
jects of  this  province  to  take  an  active  part  with  us,  he  has  cheerfully 
submitted  to  the  fatigue  and  dangers  of  our  campaigns ;  but  his  deli- 
cate constitution  has  suffered  by  his  public  spirit,  for,  by  the  advice 
of  the  physician,  he  is  now  obliged  to  return  to  England  for  the 
recovery  of  his  health"  (Ross,  Cornwallis  Correspondence,  I,  489, 
494,  509). 

In  April,  1781,  after  the  battle  of  Guilford,  Martin,  suffering 
from  increasing  ill  health,  left  Cornwallis's  army  and  returned  to  his 
family  at  "Rockhall."  There  he  spent  a  part  of  the  summer,  after 
which,  with  his  wife,  a  son,  and  three  daughters,  he  set  sail  for  Eng- 
land. In  London  he  presented  his  claims  to  the  American  Loyalist 
Claims  Commission,  and  in  memorials — one  of  which  was  supported 
by  the  "observations"  of  his  brother  Samuel,* — and  in  evidence  given 
personally  in  the  presence  of  the  board,  he  made  statements  of  his 

*  In  a  letter  to  Lord  George  Germain,  October  12,  1780  (Public  Record 
Office,  C.  O.  5:  157,  p.  395),  Samuel  writes:  "I  received  very  lately  a  letter 
from  my  brother  Gov.  Martin  acquainting  me  that  he  had  besought  your 
Lordships  patronage  to  obtain  of  his  Majestys  goodness  an  equitable  relief 
for  the  losses  he  sustained  by  the  depredations  of  the  Rebels  on  the  eruption 
of  Rebellion  in  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  then  acting  and  he  trusts  doing 
his  duty  as  a  Governor  commissioned  by  the  King.  .  .  .  My  brother  long 
ago  desired  me  to  submit  his  case  and  humble  petition  to  the  King's  ministers, 
but  I  discouraged  him,  urging  my  own  privacy,  insignificance,  and  want  of 
strength  for  an  effectual  support  of  such  an  application." 


APPENDICES  269 


losses.  His  salary,  he  said,  with  the  perquisites  of  the  governor's 
office,  was  worth  from  £1700  to  £1800  a  year ;  his  furniture  he  valued 
at  £2400  to  £2500,  his  books  at  £500  to  £600;  and  his  horses,  two 
carriages,  and  the  lands  which  he  as  governor  had  granted  to  him- 
self and  his  children  (10,000  acres)  were  worth  altogether  £3500. 
The  Treasury  had  been  paying  him  his  salary  of  £1000  since  July, 
1775,  and  a  temporary  pension  of  £500,  but  the  board  decided  that 
as  long  as  the  salary  was  paid  the  allowance  should  cease.  Until 
October,  1783,  therefore,  Martin  had  his  salary,  but  after  that  date 
the  £500  allowance  seems  to  have  been  his  only  payment  from  the 
British  Exchequer,  except  the  compensation  for  losses,  which  was 
placed  at  £2100.  In  1785,  Martin  reported  that  he  had  received  only 
£840  of  that  amount  (Audit  Office  Papers). 

There  is  nothing  to  show  that  Martin  engaged  in  any  occupation 
under  government  or  in  any  way  concerned  himself  with  public 
affairs  after  he  returned  to  England.  Probably  his  health  forbade 
active  work.  He  performed  useful  services  in  behalf  of  members  of 
the  highland  regiment  that  he  had  raised  in  1775-1776,  and  he  wrote 
recommendations  and  appeared  before  the  board  personally  in  behalf 
of  their  claims.  In  1782  he  was  living  in  South  Molton  Street  (off 
Oxford  Street)  and  later  resided  at  56  James  Street  and  in  New 
Norfolk  Street  (Grosvenor  Square).  He  died  intestate*  at  the  latter 
place  in  March,  1786,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine,  and  was  buried  in  St. 
George's,  Hanover  Square.  Miers,  as  has  been  noted,  painted  his 
miniature  some  time  before  1771,  for  which  Martin  said  that  he  sat 
fifty  times  (Copley-Pelham  Letters,  p.  128).  It  cost  him  thirty 
guineas,  and  Copley,  who  saw  it,  told  Henry  Pelham  that  he  thought 
it  well  worth  the  money.  Copley  himself  in  1771,  going  from  New 
York  to  "Rockhall"  specially  for  the  purpose,  painted  a  portrait  of 
Mary  Elizabeth,  Martin's  eldest  daughter,  at  that  time  eight  or  nine 

*  Letters  of  Administration,  dated  June  20,  1786,  and  February  17,  1789, 
may  be  found  among  the  records  of  the  Prerogative  Court  of  Canterbury, 
in  the  Admonition  Act  Books  for  those  years.  Sarah,  Alice,  and  Josiah  Martin 
are  the  beneficiaries  in  both  grants,  Mary  Elizabeth  having  renounced  all 
claim  to  a  share  in  the  estate.  The  latter's  position  at  this  time  is  not  a  little 
puzzling.  In  the  grant  of  1789  she  is  mentioned  as  "now  residing  at  Black 
Rocke  in  North  America."  Can  this  represent  an  attempt  to  say  that  she  was 
residing  at  "Rockhall"  in  1789*?  She  was  considerably  older  than  the  other 
children  and  had  been  left  £200  by  her  grandfather,  Josiah,  in  his  will  in 
1773.  the  only  one  of  the  children  to  be  so  favored,  and  it  is  not  impossible 
that,  after  the  death  of  her  mother  and  father,  she  lived  with  the  Long 
Island  family.  Hers  is  the  portrait  painted  by  Copley.  (Josiah's  will  is  in 
Collections,  New  York  Historical  Society,  1900,  Wills,  IX,  55.) 


270     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

years  old,  with  a  dog,  a  picture  that  is  not  included  in  Bayley's  list 
of  Copley  paintings.  This  portrait  was  originally  painted  on  canvas 
and  set  in  the  chimney  piece  over  the  mantel  in  the  back  parlor,  but 
Mr.  Hewlett,  who  bought  "Rockhall"  in  1824,  had  it  taken  out  and 
framed  lest  it  be  injured  by  damp  and  mould  (letter  from  Mr. 
Hewlett's  granddaughter,  Louise  Hewlett  Patterson).  All  together 
Martin  had  eight  children,  Mary  Elizabeth,  born  in  Long  Island, 
1762,  two  daughters  born  either  in  Long  Island  or  in  Antigua  between 
1762  and  1769,  Sarah,  born  in  Antigua  about  1769,  Alice,  born  in 
Long  Island  about  1770,  Samuel,  born  in  Long  Island,  1771,  Josiah, 
born  in  North  Carolina,  1772,  and  Augusta,  born  in  Long  Island, 
1775.  Little  Sammy  and  two  unnamed  daughters  died  in  North 
Carolina,  and  Augusta  died  in  England  before  1788.  The  others  were 
all  living  in  1795,  Josiah  dying  unmarried  in  1799.  Of  the  mother's 
death  we  know  certainly  but  little.*  Payson  says  that  she  died  at  the 
age  of  forty-four,  in  October,  1778,  a  month  before  her  father  (Oliver, 
Antigua,  III,  441 ;  New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Regis- 
ter, Jan.,  1900). 

Colonel  Samuel's  next  younger  brother,  Josiah,  the  uncle  of  Gov- 
ernor Josiah,  with  whom  he  has  frequently  been  confounded,  was 
born  in  Antigua  in  1699.  He  lived  in  the  island  during  his  earlier 
years  and  from  his  rank  in  the  militia  was  often  known  as  Major 
Martin.  If,  as  the  records  of  St.  George's  parish,  Hempstead,  seem 
to  show,  his  daughter  Elizabeth  was  born  in  Long  Island  in  1732,  two 
facts,  not  otherwise  known,  come  to  light.  First,  that  Elizabeth  was 
the  daughter  of  his  first  wife  and  so  half-sister  to  his  other  children ; 
and  second  that  Josiah  himself  must  have  gone  with  his  wife  to  Long 
Island  as  early  as  1730-1732^  If  he  was  present  in  Long  Island 
before  1732,  he  must  have  returned  soon  to  Antigua,  for  his  marriage 
to  his  second  wife,  Mary  Yeamans,  a  niece  of  his  brother's  first  wife, 
on  May  8,  1735,  is  to  be  found  in  the  register  of  St.  Paul's  parish, 
and  in  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  council  there. 
He  must  have  acquired  land  in  Long  Island  early,  for  "Major  Mar- 
tin's lands"  are  mentioned  in  the  Hempstead  Records  in  1742.  He 
was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  notary  public  in  Antigua  in  1741  and 

*  Josiah  was  a  widower  when  he  died.  That  fact  is  stated  in  the  letters  of 
administration.  Sarah,  Alice,  and  Josiah  Henry  were  all  minors  in  1789,  that 
is,  under  the  age  of  twenty-one.  Therefore  the  birth  of  the  elder,  Sarah,  can- 
not have  been  earlier  than  1769. 

f  In  the  parish  register  of  St.  Peter's,  Antigua,  is  to  be  found  entry  of  the 
baptism  of  Lidia,  daughter  of  Mr.  Josiah  Martin,  February  3,  1727.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  whether  this  is  our  Josiah  or  not  (Oliver,  II,  250). 


APPENDICES  271 


president  of  the  council  from  1743  to  1746.  In  1749  he  was  given 
twelve  months'  leave  of  absence,  and  at  that  time  must  have  made  up 
his  mind  to  leave  the  island  permanently.  His  name  appears  in  the 
Hempstead  records  in  1751,  as  subscribing  £20  for  erecting  a  gallery 
in  the  parish  church  (Onderdonk,  Antiquities  of  the  Parish  Church, 
Hempstead,  p.  n  ;  Annals  of  Hempstead,  p.  76).  He  purchased  land 
in  1761  at  the  head  of  Cow  Bay  (Far  Rockaway)  and  there  must 
have  erected  his  mansion,  "Rockhall,"  soon  after.*  In  1755,  he  was 
recorded  as  possessing  six  slaves,  the  largest  number  but  one  in  a  list 
of  that  date,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  was  a  man  of  wealth,  though 
holding  no  remunerative  official  post  or  engaging,  as  far  as  we  know, 
in  any  business  other  than  that  of  a  country  gentleman. 

In  the  very  few  biographical  statements  that  have  been  made  re- 
garding Josiah  Martin  the  elder,  we  are  told  that  he  was  aide-de- 
camp to  Lieutenant  Governor  DeLancey  in  1757,  but  that  is  wholly 
unlikely,  as  he  was  fifty-eight  years  old  at  the  time,  and  the  reference 
must  be  to  Josiah  Martin  the  younger.  We  are  also  told  that  he  was 
on  the  council  of  the  governor  of  the  province  of  New  York  from 
1759  to  1764,  and  that  statement  is  probably  correct,  for  he  is 
called  "Hon."  in  the  notice  of  his  death,  a  title  indicating  membership 
in  the  council,  and  in  the  legislative  journal  the  name  is  entered  fol- 
lowed by  "Esq.,"  a  style  that  would  hardly  have  been  used  had  the 
Josiah  Martin  in  question  been  an  officer  in  the  regular  army.  Yet 
the  matter  is  made  perplexing  by  the  fact  that  in  the  Privy  Council 
Register  he  is  spoken  of  as  no  longer  of  the  council  because  he  had 
"settled  at  Antigua"  (Acts  of  the  Privy  Council,  Colonial,  IV,  493), 
and  it  was  the  nephew,  not  the  uncle,  who  went  to  Antigua  in  1764. 
Whichever  it  was,  this  particular  Josiah  Martin  was  not  of  much 
use  as  a  councillor,  for  he  was  present  at  but  five  meetings  of  the 
council  in  five  years  (Journal  of  the  Legislative  Council,  II,  1371, 
1372,  1402,  1417,  1428).  He  died,  November  21,  1778,  at  "Rockhall" 
and  was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  St.  George's  Church,  of  which  he 
was  long  a  member.  His  will  mentions  six  children,  Samuel,  Charles 
Yeamans,  William,  Elizabeth,  Alice,  and  Rachel,  and  we  know  that 
he  had  one  other  son,  Josiah,  who  died  in  1762,  after  graduating  at 
the  College  of  Philadelphia  (University  of  Pennsylvania),  A.B. 

*  There  is  an  account  of  "Rockhall"  in  Bellot's  History  of  the  Rockaways, 
pp.  76-77,  but  it  is  full  of  inaccuracies.  Its  most  important  feature  is  the 
reproduction  of  an  old  photograph  of  the  house  as  it  was  in  1874,  showing 
"Quokko  House,"  the  slave  quarters,  which  was  removed  in  1881.  This 
photograph  (and  others  of  a  similar  character)  is  in  the  possession  of  the 
descendants  of  Mr.  George  Hewlett. 


272     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

1757,  A.M.  1760,  and  after  he  had  been  entered  at  the  Inner  Temple, 
London.  His  wife  died  in  1825,  having  lived  during  her  later  years 
in  a  house  left  her  by  her  son  in  his  will  and  which  stood  on  the  site 
of  the  Astor  House  in  New  York.* 

The  eldest  surviving  son  of  Josiah  the  elder  was  Samuel,  born 
in  1740  (baptized,  October  14,  in  St.  George's  Church,  Hempstead), 
who  became  a  doctor,  but  from  what  medical  school  he  obtained  his 
diploma  we  do  not  know.  He  was  a  loyalist  and  in  1776  was  im- 
plicated in  a  plot  to  overthrow  the  revolutionary  government  in  New 
York.  On  February  17,  1776,  he  was  compelled  to  give  a  bond  of 
£500  to  behave  peaceably  and  refrain  from  harboring  Tories  in  his 
house.  Later  his  name  was  placed  on  the  list  of  suspects,  and  in 
June  he  was  summoned  before  the  committee  for  hearing  and  trying 
disaffected  persons.  When  interrogated  he  said  that  he  had  never 
done  anything  against  the  country  and  was  not  an  enemy  to  America ; 
that  he  always  meant  to  remain  as  peaceable  and  inactive  as  he  could. 
On  being  asked  whether  the  British  parliament  had  a  right  to  tax 
America,  he  replied  that  in  his  opinion  it  had  no  right  to  levy  internal 
taxes  on  the  colonies.  On  being  further  asked  what  he  meant  by  an 
internal  tax,  he  answered  a  land  tax,  not  a  personal  tax,  which  was 
not  unconstitutional  if  for  the  regulation  of  trade,  but,  he  added,  he 
was  not  a  politician  and  had  confined  his  studies  to  his  profession. 
Asked  if  he  would  give  security,  said  that  he  would  and  named  his 
father  living  on  Long  Island.  The  committee  resolved  unanimously 
that  Samuel  Martin  was  not  a  friend  to  the  American  cause,  but 
after  a  further  interrogation  on  June  26  accepted  his  parole  and  did 
not  molest  him  during  the  war  (Force,  American  Archives,  VI,  1776, 
ff.  1153,  1160,  1175,  ii76).f 

Martin  continued  to  live  at  "Rockhall,"  serving  for  many  years 
as  vestryman  of  St.  George's  Church,  and  exercising  considerable 
local  influence.  In  1773  he  was  recommended  by  the  Royal  Society 
"to  make  researches  and  collections  in  the  branches  of  Natural  His- 

*  Payson  in  Oliver's  Antigua,  III,  441,  and  in  New  England  Historical 
and  Genealogical  Register,  January,  1900,  says  that  Josiah's  wife  died 
August  30,  1805.  His  evidence  is  the  parish  record  of  death.  She  is  mentioned 
in  Samuel's  will  of  August  13,  1802,  administered  in  1806.  If  she  died  in 
1805,  then  Alice  probably  occupied  the  New  York  house. 

f  In  a  "list  of  persons  charged  as  enemies  to  America,"  following  the  date 
June  20,  1776,  appears  the  following: 

" Martin  from  Antigua.  Dwells  in  Obd.  Mills  house  opposite  the 

Meeting  House  at  a  high  rent.  He  associates  chiefly  with  James  Depeyster" 
(Force,  op.  cit.,  f.  1158).  We  cannot  identify  this  particular  Martin.  Josiah, 
Jr.,  was  not  there  at  that  time.  The  Mills  house  was  in  Jamaica. 


APPENDICES  273 

tory  in  America"  (Home  Office  Papers,  1773-1775,  §127)  and  so 
must  have  acquired  something  of  a  reputation  in  England.  He  never 
married.  His  death  took  place  on  April  19,  1806,  and  he  was  buried 
under  the  chancel  of  the  old  St.  George's  Church.  When  the  first 
church  was  burned  and  its  successor  placed  on  a  slightly  different 
site  his  grave  remained  unmarked.  At  his  death  Samuel  left  instruc- 
tions that  all  the  family  papers  should  be  sent  to  his  brother  Charles 
in  England.  Whether  or  not  they  are  still  in  existence  we  do  not 
know. 


III.  "Olivees"  and  the  Hamiltons. 

.Miss  SCHAW  visited  the  Hamiltons  at  the  height  of  their  happiness 
and  prosperity,  before  the  clouds  of  the  American  War  had  begun  to 
cast  their  ominous  shadows  and  darken  the  scene.  Her  account  pos- 
sesses great  charm  and  vivacity  and  presents  a  delightful  picture  of 
"Olivees"  at  its  best,  glowing  with  hospitality  and  life.  There,  as 
elsewhere,  Miss  Schaw  was  aroused  to  an  enthusiastic  appreciation  of 
all  that  she  saw  and  enjoyed,  and  was  manifestly  impressed  by  the 
reception  she  met  with  from  old  and  new  friends  alike.  Undoubtedly 
these  circumstances  added  vastly  to  her  pleasure  and  led  her  at  times 
to  indulge  in  roseate  views  of  the  islands  that  are  not  always  borne 
out  by  the  accounts  of  others,  though  none  deny  that  West  Indian 
plantation  life,  in  the  heyday  of  its  existence,  was  socially  of  a  luxu- 
rious and  convivial  character. 

Lady  Isabella  Erskine  and  William  Leslie  Hamilton  were  married 
in  England  in  1770,  and  immediately  afterwards  sailed  for  the  West 
Indies,  where  the  latter,  receiving  his  legal  education  at  the  Middle 
Temple,  had  been  admitted  to  practice  as  a  lawyer  in  1767.  He  must 
have  been  older  than  Miss  Schaw  thought  he  was,  for  if  he  were  but 
twenty-six  or  twenty-seven  in  January,  1775?  he  would  have  been 
but  twelve  or  thirteen  when  entered  at  the  Middle  Temple  in  1761, 
but  eighteen  or  nineteen  when  called  to  the  bar  in  1767,  and  less  than 
twenty-five  when  chosen  speaker  of  the  house.  Such  precocity  is  pos- 
sible but  hardly  credible.  Immediately  upon  arrival  the  bride  and 
groom  took  up  their  residence  at  the  splendid  plantation  "Olivees," 
belonging  to  Hamilton's  sister,  who  allowed  them  to  occupy  the 


274     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

estate  rent  free,  and  to  enjoy  without  charge  the  services  of  the 
negroes  and  (within  certain  limits)  the  products  of  the  plantation.* 
The  latter  lay  pleasantly  and  coolly  situated  on  the  high  ground  a 
mile  from  Basseterre,  two  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of 
the  sea.  It  stood  "on  a  well  raised  stone  terrace,  paved  with  marble 
and  had  spacious  open  galeries  and  verandahs."  The  "great  hall," 
of  which  Miss  Schaw  speaks,  was  a  large,  finely  proportioned  room, 
which  ran  the  entire  length  of  the  front,  with  a  handsome  deep  cornice 
and  ample  doors,  both  of  dark  mahogany,  and  a  paneling  of  the  same 
wood.  It  constituted  the  great  reception  and  dining-room,  the  scene 
of  lavish  entertainment  and  hospitality.  In  addition  the  house  had  a 
drawing-room  and  bedchambers  finished  and  furnished  in  English 
style.  The  estate  comprised  283  acres,  151  of  which  were  cane  land 
and  132  pasture,  and  taken  as  a  whole  was  esteemed  the  finest  in  all 
the  West  Indies.  In  later  years  it  fell  very  much  into  disrepair,  and 
Davy  reported  in  1846  that  the  whole  might  then  be  bought  for 
£3000,  which  was  less  than  the  original  cost  of  the  house  (West 
Indies,  p.  463). 

Until  1777  the  Hamiltons  lived  at  "Olivees"  in  affluence,  the 
social  leaders  of  the  southern  part  of  the  island ;  but  in  the  same  year 
they  removed  to  Basseterre  that  Mr.  Hamilton  might  the  more  effi- 
ciently perform  his  duties  as  the  deputy  solicitor-general  of  the 
islands.  There  they  remained,  burdened  with  the  increasing  expenses 
of  town  life  and  the  obligations  which  the  war  of  the  American 
Revolution  imposed,  until,  in  1779,  Lady  Belle  left  the  island  and 
returned  to  England;  and  the  next  year,  Mr.  Hamilton,  broken  in 
health,  obtained  leave  of  absence  and  followed  her,  but  died  in  Lon- 
don, in  October,  1780,  four  days  after  his  arrival.  Their  last  years  in 
St.  Kitts  were  a  time  of  anxiety  and  financial  embarrassment.  As 
deputy  solicitor-general  and  afterwards  attorney-general,  Hamilton 

*  From  a  pamphlet  in  the  British  Museum,  entitled  An  Account  of  the 
late  dreadful  Hurricane  which  happened  on  the  jist  August,  1772,  we  learn 
that  "Olivees"  was  the  property  of  Peter  Mathew  Mills,  son  of  Mathew 
Mills  of  St.  Christopher,  who  died  in  1753.  The  latter's  name  is  entered  on 
the  map  of  Basseterre  and  its  surroundings  (above,  p.  120)  as  the  owner  of 
a  plantation,  which  is  probably  "Olivees."  If  so,  the  sister  who  allowed  the 
Hamiltons  to  occupy  the  plantation,  rent  free,  must  have  been  Peter  Mathew 
Mills's  wife,  so  that  Mills  and  Hamilton  would  be  brothers-in-law.  We  have 
not  been  able,  however,  to  establish  the  connection.  The  first  name  of  Mills's 
wife  was  Catherine,  but  her  family  name  is  unknown.  As  Mills  and  his  wife 
were  living  in  London  at  the  time  of  the  Hamiltons'  marriage,  they  might 
well  have  turned  over  the  plantation  in  St.  Christopher  to  the  newly  wedded 
pair. 


APPENDICES  275 

was  responsible  for  the  peace  and  good  order  of  the  islands  and  in 
consequence  became  involved  in  many  important  and  expensive 
undertakings  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  the  revolutionary  influ- 
ence. There  was  a  powerful  radical  party  in  St.  Christopher,  which 
Governor  Burt  characterized  as  "factious,  disappointed,  and  Gallo- 
American  principled,"  for  (he  adds)  the  president  of  the  council, 
Craister  Greatheed,  "suffered  them  to  do  in  a  manner  as  they 
pleased  and  escaped  [trouble].  By  two  years'  relaxation  of  govern- 
ment and  acquiescence  (1775-1777)9  distraction  and  American  princi- 
ples and  attachments  took  head.  I  had  them  to  combat;  your  Lord- 
ship may  rest  satisfied  I  will  eradicate  these  monsters  or  fall  in  the 
contest"  (letter  of  Nov.  25,  1778).  In  the  same  letter  he  speaks  of 
the  extremes  to  which  the  madness  of  the  assembly  had  gone,  and 
reports  that  some  say  "the  King's  instructions  are  not  binding  on 
them."  Later  (Oct.  25,  1780)  he  writes:  "The  disposition  of  that 
assembly,  as  well  as  of  others  in  this  part  of  the  world,  having  caught 
the  infection  from  America  and  [being]  deeply  tinged  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  Republicanism,  attempt  bringing  all  to  a  level  and  assume 
privileges  to  which  I  cannot  think  them  constitutionally,  I  am  certain 
they  are  not  from  the  mode  of  government  hitherto,  entitled." 

Such  were  the  conditions,  undoubtedly  much  exaggerated  by  Gov- 
ernor Burt,  under  which  Hamilton  performed  his  duties,  first  as  the 
deputy  solicitor-general  and  then  as  the  attorney-general  of  the  Lee- 
ward Islands.  Had  Miss  Schaw  visited  St.  Christopher  two  years 
later  (she  was  there  in  January,  1775),  she  might  have  had  a  differ- 
ent tale  to  tell,  a  tale  not  unlike  that  which  she  told  for  North  Caro- 
lina. Hamilton  was  called  upon  to  repress  the  trade  in  arms  which 
was  taking  place  between  the  North  American  colonies  and  the  Dutch 
island  of  St.  Eustatius ;  for,  as  Burt  wrote,  the  Dutch  governor,  De 
Graaff,  did  all  in  his  power  "to  support  and  countenance  the  Rebels 
and  French"  and  connived  at  trade  in  munitions  of  war  and  the 
fitting  out  of  privateers  (cf.  also  American  Historical  Review,  VIII, 
693-695)  .*  As  Governor  Burt  had  no  available  fund  for  this  purpose, 
Hamilton's  purse  was  resorted  to  on  all  occasions,  and  his  money 
used  for  the  carrying  on  of  correspondence  with  the  governor,  the 

*  In  the  Public  Record  Office  is  an  autograph  letter  from  Hamilton  to 
Governor  Burt  regarding  the  capture  of  two  vessels  with  Danish  property,  in 
which  is  enclosed  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  the  principal  owner  "earnestly 
asking  his  friendship  in  getting  these  brigantines  clear"  and  adding  "there 
will  be  £200  sterling  at  your  service,  i.e.,  £100  each."  To  this  Hamilton  re- 
plied that  no  temptation  would  ever  influence  him  to  betray  the  public  trust 
bestowed  on  him  (C.  O.  152:58). 


276     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

hiring  of  vessels,  the  securing  of  information,  and  the  furnishing  of 
aid  to  the  commanders  of  the  British  fleet  in  West  Indian  waters. 
Hamilton  was  also  frequently  required  to  entertain  officers  of  the 
squadron,  at  one  time  receiving  the  wife  of  Admiral  Gumming  as  a 
member  of  his  family  for  more  than  a  year  (1777-1778),  and  in 
other  ways  becoming  involved  in  expenditures  which  seriously  de- 
pleted his  fortune.  He  suffered  also  heavy  losses.  The  expense  of  liv- 
ing at  Basseterre  was  considerably  more  than  at  the  plantation,  and 
on  account  of  his  official  duties  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  private 
practice,  thus  incurring  a  total  loss  of  income  amounting  to  £9000 
sterling.  Before  leaving  the  island  in  1780,  he  shipped  to  England 
goods — clothing,  tea,  Nankin  china,  plate,  etc. — worth  £2500,  but  the 
vessel  was  captured  by  the  French  and  his  property  seized  as  prize  of 
war.  Lady  Belle,  in  one  of  her  memorials,  says  that  a  part  of  the 
plate  was  seen  afterwards  on  the  sideboard  of  the  Marquis  de  Bouille 
(French  governor  in  the  Antilles),  "Mr.  Bingham,*  the  American 
agent,  winking  at  the  outrage."  Some  of  the  tea  and  china,  she  says 
further,  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Washington ;  and  later  in  London  when  she 
entertained  Mr.  Bingham  at  her  table  and  reminded  him  of  the 
stolen  property,  he  acknowledged  the  obligation  and  in  recompense 
offered  her  land  in  America. 

All  together  Hamilton's  losses  were  estimated  at  £15,000,  a  sum 
which  apparently  did  not  include  the  value  of  the  property  captured 
by  the  French.f  In  the  years  from  1803  to  1809,  Lady  Belle,  then 
Countess  of  Glencairn,  petitioned  the  government  for  compensation. 
She  presented  several  memorials  and  a  number  of  statements  from 
persons  familiar  with  the  circumstances,  among  them  two  from  Wil- 
liam Knox,  who  testified  that  when  undersecretary  of  state  he  knew 
of  Hamilton's  services  and  could  say  that  no  remuneration  had  been 
given.  Nelson,  who  had  been  with  the  fleet  in  the  West  Indies  in 
1777-1778,  visited  the  countess  at  Mollard's  Hotel,  Dover  Street,  in 

*  This  was  William  Bingham,  in  1778  American  agent  at  St.  Pierre,  Mar- 
tinique (Journals  of  Congress,  XI,  837;  XII,  147,  150,  153),  afterwards  sena- 
tor from  Pennsylvania,  who  died  at  Bath,  England,  in  1803.  His  daughter 
married  Lord  Ashburton. 

t  In  1779  Governor  Burt  said  of  Hamilton,  "I  have  in  many  years  been 
intimately  acquainted  with  him.  His  Majesty  has  not  in  all  his  dominions 
a  subject  more  firmly  attached  ...  a  more  steady  warm  and  zealous  promo- 
ter of  his  service  or  one  who  would  with  more  cheerfulness  stake  life  and 
fortune  for  H.  M.  against  all  the  factions  set  on  foot  by  the  Gallo-American 
party."  In  a  later  letter  he  adds  that  Hamilton  was  a  considerable  sufferer 
from  the  loyal  part  he  had  taken,  losing  in  a  few  years  near  £15,000  sterling 
(C.  O.  152:60). 


APPENDICES  277 


September,  1805,  Just  before  leaving  England  for  the  last  time,  and 
there  approved  of  her  claim  and  testified  to  the  value  of  Hamilton's 
information  and  help  to  the  naval  commanders.  Lord  Thurlow,  the 
lord  chancellor,  "who  honoured  Lord  Glencairn  and  myself  with  his 
particular  regards,"  also  rendered  assistance  in  determining  the 
amount  of  the  claim.  Unfortunately  Lady  Belle  was  unable  to  make 
out  accurate  accounts  of  disbursements,  because  all  of  Hamilton's 
papers  were  lost,  when  the  ship  on  which  they  were  despatched  foun- 
dered at  sea.  (Governor  Burt's  letters  and  accompanying  papers  are 
in  the  Public  Record  Office,  C.  O.  152:58-60;  the  memorials  of  the 
countess  and  corroborative  statements  in  the  same  series,  volumes  84, 

94-) 

Hamilton's  case  shows  that  the  Loyalists  on  the  American  con- 
tinent were  not  the  only  ones  who  suffered  in  the  American  revolu- 
tion. 


IV.  Brunswick. 

1  HE  town  of  Brunswick,  which  lay  about  twelve  miles  within  the 
bar  of  the  Cape  Fear  River,  was  located  on  the  lands  of  Maurice  and 
Roger  Moore,  upon  high  ground  along  the  western  bank.  Maurice 
Moore,  the  chief  promoter,  had  come  from  South  Carolina  in  1719, 
had  settled  at  first  in  Chowan  county  on  Albemarle  Sound,  and  in 
1722  had  taken  up  lands  on  the  Cape  Fear.  In  1725  he  "caused  a  plot 
or  plan  containing  360  acres  of  land  to  be  admeasured  and  laid  out 
in  lots,  which  360  acres  is  but  part  of  a  larger  tract  or  parcel  of  land 
containing  1500  held  by  patent  thereof"  of  the  proprietors.  Forty  of 
the  360  acres  were  added  by  Roger  Moore  "to  make  the  said  town 
more  regular"  (N.  C.  State  Records,  XXIII,  239).  The  terms  of 
settlement  were  that  a  house,  16  by  20,  should  be  built  on  each  lot 
sold  or  "in  such  size  as  shall  seem  habitable"  within  eight  months 
(Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  A,  pp.  71-72).  The  lots  contained 
half  an  acre  each  and  were  numbered,  the  numbers  running  to  350. 
In  1731  it  was  said  that  the  town  was  "like  to  be  a  flourishing  place 
by  reason  of  its  excellent  situation  for  the  trade  of  those  parts" 
(N.  C.  R.  Ill,  261),  but  Hugh  Meredith,  writing  in  the  same  year, 
reported  that  it  was  "but  a  poor,  hungry,  unprovided  place,  consisting 


278     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

of  not  above  10  or  12  scattering  mean  houses,  hardly  worth  the  name 
of  a  village,"  but,  he  added,  "the  platform  is  good  and  convenient, 
and  the  ground  high  considering  the  country"  (Pennsylvania  Gazette, 
May  6-13,  1731).  Because  of  the  slow  growth  of  the  place,  a  bill  was 
passed  in  1745  by  the  provincial  assembly  organizing  a  town  govern- 
ment and  settling  and  securing  the  titles  to  the  land.  Possession  of  the 
soil  was  vested  in  a  board  of  commissioners,  of  which  Richard  Quince 
and  William  Dry,  2d,  were  members.  There  is  no  certainty  as  to  how 
many  lots  were  sold  or  how  many  houses  were  built,  though  the 
owners  of  about  fifty  can  be  identified.  We  read  of  "Front  Street," 
the  "Street  on  the  Bay,"  and  the  "Second  Street  on  the  Bay."  Other 
streets  were  probably  laid  out,  but  may  not  have  been  named. 

A  little  north  of  the  centre,  placed  according  to  the  true  meridian 
and  occupying  one  block,  was  St.  Philip's  Church  (76  ft.  by  54  ft.), 
the  walls  of  which,  two  feet  nine  inches  in  thickness,  are  still  stand- 
ing. Until  1762  or  1763  the  only  place  of  worship  in  Brunswick  had 
been  an  "old  chapel"  with  but  15  actual  communicants  (N.  C.  R.  VI, 
730)  ;  but  in  that  year  the  church,  which  had  been  begun  in  the  early 
fifties,  was  finally  and  after  long  delay  roofed  in  (ib.,  V,  158,  VI, 
235,  237),  and  must  have  been  used  for  services  soon  after.  There 
was  no  parsonage.  On  the  north  of  Brunswick  was  the  plantation 
Russellboro,  named  for  its  first  owner,  Captain  Russell  of  H.  M.  S. 
Scorpion,  an  estate  of  about  fifty  acres,  which  afterwards  became  the 
home,  first  of  Governor  Dobbs  and  then  of  Governor  Tryon.  The  site 
of  the  Tryon  house  has  recently  been  located  and  suitably  marked 
(Sprunt,  Chronicles  of  the  Cape  Fear,  2d  ed.,  pp.  103-106).  On  the 
south  was  York  plantation,  belonging  to  Nathaniel  Moore. 

The  town  contained  at  least  one  ordinary,  known  as  Roger's  tavern, 
and  probably  many  more.  Except  as  a  port  of  entry  and  clearance, 
and  a  residence  of  sea-captains,  merchants,  and  storekeepers,  it  was 
never  conspicuous,  though  courts  were  held  there,  business  was 
transacted,  physicians  practiced,  missionaries  labored  for  many  years 
without  glebe,  church,  or  salary,  and  neighborly  intercourse  was 
carried  on  of  a  social  and  friendly  character.  Disorder  and  crime  pre- 
vailed also,  for  as  early  as  1739-1740  we  learn  that  both  court  house 
and  jail  were  greatly  needed  (New  Hanover  County  Records,  1737- 
1741).  There  lived  the  Drys,  the  Moores,  the  Quinces,  and  others  of 
the  better  sort  who  constituted  the  provincial  group  of  those  who 
opposed  many  of  the  policies  of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  and  his 
friends,  and  who  resisted  with  vigor  the  governor's  efforts  to  develop 
Wilmington  at  the  expense  of  Brunswick.  They  had  invested  money 


APPENDICES  279 

in  lands  and  buildings  there  and  hoped  that  from  its  lucrative  trade 
in  naval  stores,  lumber,  and  rice  it  would  in  time  become  a  great  city. 
Burrington  had  said  as  early  as  1736  that  it  would  be  a  place  of  very 
great  trade  as  soon  as  it  became  well  peopled  (ib.,  IV,  169).  But  all 
were  destined  to  be  grievously  disappointed.  With  the  rise  of  Wil- 
mington, Brunswick  steadily  declined;  and  even  in  1775  Miss  Schaw 
could  describe  it  as  but  a  poor  town  "with  a  few  scattered  houses  on 
the  edge  of  a  wood,"  and  her  brother  could  call  it  "but  a  straggling 
village."  See  also  Appendix  VI. 


V.  Description  of  North  Carolina  by 
Alexander  Schaw. 

"T 

IN  the  province  of  North  Carolina  there  are  several  rivers,  which 
run  a  considerable  way  into  the  country.  Upon  the  south  is  Cape 
Fear  river,  which  is  navigable  for  ships  of  large  burden  as  far  as 
a  shoal  which  they  call  the  Flats,  about  seven  miles  above  Brunswick 
town,  which  is  situated  twelve  miles  within  the  bar.  In  consequence 
of  this  impediment,  vessels  which  have  a  draught  of  above  nine  and  a 
half  feet  of  water  cannot  go  up  to  Wilmington,  which  is  the  next  port 
above  and  the  most  considerable  town  on  the  river,  even  at  spring 
tides,  till  they  are  lightened  to  that  draught.  Above,  or  rather  at  Wil- 
mington, the  Northeast  and  Northwest  branches  of  the  river  join. 
The  Northwest  is  the  least  considerable,  and  upon  the  whole  extent 
there  is  no  town,  tho'  its  banks  are  very  well  settled.  The  first  town 
is  Cross  Creek,  about  100  miles  above  Wilmington.  Here  the  whole 
trade  with  the  back  settlers  is  carried  on  for  a  great  way  round. 

"From  Fort  Johnston  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  to  Brunswick  is 
twelve  miles.  From  Brunswick  to  Wilmington  there  are  two  roads: 
one  goes  up  the  right  side  of  the  river  upon  which  Brunswick  stands 
and  crosses  two  ferries  opposite  to  Wilmington,  occasioned  by  the 
river  being  there  divided  by  a  large  swampy  island,  through  which 
there  is  a  very  bad  road  of  a  mile  and  a  half.  The  length  of  this 
road  is  reckoned  sixteen  miles.  To  go  by  the  other  road,  one  must 
cross  a  ferry  at  Brunswick  of  a  mile  over,  from  whence  to  Wilming- 
ton it  is  about  ten  miles.  Every  part  of  these  roads  is  more  or  less 


280     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 


sandy.  Some  of  them  for  miles  together  is  very  deep,  as  the  surface 
often  is  a  pure  white  sand,  without  a  particle  of  soil  to  bind  it 
together.  This  is  the  case  with  almost  every  part  of  the  province  near 
the  sea. 

"The  roads  on  both  sides  of  the  river  cross  a  few  water  runs, 
which  in  the  country  are  called  creeks;  they  are  generally  swampy 
along  the  sides,  which  are  crowded  with  trees,  bushes,  vines,  and 
brambles.  Over  all  these  creeks  are  wooden  bridges.  Wherever  the 
land  is  dry,  there  is  little  or  no  brush.  The  woods  in  general  are  in 
the  style  of  open  groves  in  England,  except  in  such  places  as  have 
once  been  cleared  and  afterwards  abandoned.  These  are  always 
covered  with  brush.  The  roads  upon  the  Northwest  branch  of  the 
river  grow  more  solid  every  mile  above  Wilmington,  and  long  before 
they  reach  Cross  Creek  are  very  hard.  The  only  making  they  bestow 
upon  the  roads  in  the  flat  part  of  the  country  is  cutting  out  the  trees 
to  the  necessary  breadth,  in  as  even  a  line  as  they  can,  and  where  the 
ground  is  wet,  they  make  a  small  ditch  on  either  side.  The  roads 
through  swamp  land  are  made  by  first  laying  logs  in  the  direction  of 
the  road  and  covering  them  cross  ways  with  small  pine  trees,  layd 
regularly  together  over  sod,  with  which  the  logs  are  previously 
covered  J  The  roads  run  constantly  thro'  woods,  which  tho'  they  are 
generally  pretty  open,  yet  objects  at  any  considerable  distance  are 
intercepted  from  the  eye,  by  the  trees  crowding  into  the  line  of  direc- 
tion as  the  distance  increases. 

"The  next  navigable  river  to  the  northward  is  the  Neuse,  upon 
which  Newbern,  the  Governor's  residence,  is  situated,  about  forty 
miles  from  the  Sound.  This  river  can  admit  only  of  small  vessels. 

"Albemarle  sound  is  the  inlet  to  Roanoke  River,  upon  which  Eden- 
ton  is  situated,  sixty  miles  within  land,  and  about  140  miles  further 
up  the  river  is  Halifax,  which  carries  on  considerable  trade.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Halifax  they  have  a  good  breed  of  horses;  to  the 
southward  the  horses  are  smaller,  but  spirited  and  handy. 

"The  lower  parts  of  the  province  are  subject  to  agues,  pleurises  and 
bilous  complaints;  the  people  of  the  back  counties  are  not  subject  to 
these  disorders. 

"The  rivers  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  country  have  no  fords.  Their 
banks  are  in  general  covered  with  impenetrable  swamps  and  bottom- 
less morasses,  a  very  few  spots  excepted,  upon  which  generally  plan- 
tations are  settled.  But  in  the  back  country,  they  have  good  fords. 

"The  settlements  upon  the  lower  part  of  Cape  Fear  river  do  not 

fl  "Causeways,  they  call  them." 


APPENDICES  281 

produce  grain  enough,  particularly  wheat,  to  answer  their  own  de- 
mand. Large  quantities  are  therefore  sent  down  from  Cross  Creek 
in  row  boats,  which  in  return  carry  up  whatever  goods  are  wanted 
for  the  use  of  the  back  settlers. 

"Every  proprietor  of  ever  so  small  a  piece  of  land  raises  some 
Indian  corn  and  sweet  potatoes  and  breeds  some  hogs  and  a  calf  or 
two,  and  a  man  must  be  very  poor  who  walks  on  foot. 

"Brunswick  county  contains  fewer  of  the  lower  class  of  country 
people  than  any  part  of  the  whole  province,  particularly  near  the  sea. 

"There  is  no  specie  in  the  province  and  there  never  was  a  person 
who  could  command  a  sum  of  any  consequence  even  of  their  paper 
currency.  Nothing  in  the  stile  of  a  banker  or  money  merchant  was 
ever  heard  of. 

"Governor  Tryon  left  the  province  very  soon  after  the  submission 
of  the  Regulators,  and  when  Colonel  Martin  succeeded  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, their  wounds  were  still  bleeding  and  they  had  received  no 
protection  from  the  oppression  of  the  pettyfogging  attorneys,  whose 
rapacity  had  been  the  original  cause  of  the  rebellion.  Governor  Mar- 
tin arrived  in  the  province  at  this  very  critical  time.  He  made  a  prog- 
ress through  his  Government ;  and  when  he  was  in  this  part  of  the 
country  his  attention  to  the  relief  of  these  poor  people  was  such  as 
won  him  their  highest  confidence  and  esteem. 

"There  is  now  a  numerous  body  of  the  sons  and  grandsons  of  the 
first  Scotch  highland  settlers,  besides  the  later  emigrants  who  retain 
that  enthusiastic  love  for  the  country  from  which  they  are  descended, 
which  indeed  scarce  a  highlander  ever  loses,  that  they  will  support 
its  dignity  at  every  risk.  The  Governor  has  attached  them  strongly 
to  him,  as  well  as  the  later  emigrants  by  many  services  he  has  had 
opportunities  of  doing  them.  Many  highland  gentlemen  are  now  in 
that  country,  several  of  whom  have  been  officers,  and  still  retain 
their  influence  among  the  people. 

"Many  of  the  people  of  the  largest  property  in  the  country,  tho' 
they  now  languish  under  the  hand  of  oppression,  will  instantly  join 
to  support  the  Constitution,  upon  the  first  appearance  of  a  chance  of 
support. 

"The  low  country  people  in  general  have  fire-arms.  I  never  was  in 
a  house  without  seeing  one  or  more  muskets.  Indeed  the  militia  laws 
required  them.  The  highland  emigrants  carried  few  arms  with  them 
and  the  Regulators  delivered  up  the  greater  part  of  theirs  to  Gover- 
nor Tryon. 

"The  town  of  Brunswick,  which  is  indeed  but  a  straggling  village, 


282     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

is  twelve  miles  within  the  bar.  At  low  water  there  is  ten  feet  of  water 
upon  the  bar;  at  spring  tides  there  is  from  19  to  20  feet,  so  that  in 
fine  weather  ships  of  deeper  draught  can  easily  go  in.  The  water,  both 
below  and  above  the  flats  is  deep  enough  for  any  vessel.  Vessels  can 
run  from  the  bar  to  Brunswick  in  three  or  four  hours  with  the  tide, 
with  almost  any  wind. 

"There  is  good  anchorage  within  half  a  musket  shot  of  the  town. 
The  bank  is  pretty  high  for  this  country  and  the  woods  are  cut  down 
a  good  way  round  the  town.  This  is  the  only  town  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river.  Brunswick  county  is  thinly  settled,  consequently  cattle  and 
horses  are  few."  (Alexander  Schaw  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  written  from 
Orange  Street,  London,  October  31,  1775.  Dartmouth  Papers.) 

An  earlier  and  more  particular  account  of  the  province  can  be 
found  in  Governor  Dobbs's  "Answers  to  Queries"  of  December,  1761, 
N.  C.  R.  VI,  605-623;  and  another  and  contemporary  account  in 
American  Husbandry  (1775). 


VI.  Wilmington. 

1  HE  beginnings  of  Wilmington  are  to  be  found  in  John  Watson's 
grant  of  640  acres,  Michael  Higgins's  and  Joshua  Grainger's  pur- 
chase of  fifty  of  these  acres,  and  James  Wimble's  purchase  of  the 
remainder  at  the  forks  of  the  Cape  Fear  about  1733  (Wilmington 
Town  Records,  pp.  3-4).  There  were  altogether  seven  grants  upon 
which  the  modern  Wilmington  rests  and  at  first  separate  names  seem 
to  have  been  given  by  the  grantees  to  some  of  their  particular  tracts. 
The  earliest  settlement  was  called  New  Liverpool,  probably  because 
of  Liverpool  merchants,  Dunbiben,  Jenkins,  Blundell,  and  Marsden, 
for  example,  who  resided  there,  but  in  1733  the  name  "New  Car- 
thage" appears,  which  was  probably  nothing  more  than  a  paper  name 
for  the  James  Wimble  tract  lying  in  the  southern  section  (Register's 
Office,  Conveyances,  AB,  6;  C,  196-1Q6A).  Later  the  whole  area 
was  called  New  Town  or  Newton.  This  name  is  met  with  as  early 
as  March,  1735,  but  New  Liverpool  continued  in  occasional  use  until 
toward  the  end  of  1736.  In  1740,  the  name  Wilmington,  already  in 
use  for  four  years,  was  formally  adopted  out  of  compliment  to  Spen- 
cer Compton,  Viscount  Pevensey  and  Earl  of  Wilmington,  Governor 


APPENDICES  283 

Johnston's  patron,  and  the  village  of  Newton  become  the  town  of 
Wilmington. 

John  Watson,  Joshua  Grainger,  Michael  Higgins  ("innholder," 
"victualer,"  "tavern  keeper,"  and  "merchant,"  as  he  is  variously 
called),  and  James  Wimble  ("mariner,  late  of  Newton,  now  of  Bos- 
ton," 1737*)  were  the  chief  owners  of  the  land  on  which  Wilmington 
now  stands,  and  in  April,  1733,  they  joined  in  laying  out  the  town 
after  a  plan  similar  to  that  of  Brunswick.  Half-acre  lots  were  sold 
on  condition  that  the  purchaser  build  "a  tenementable  house,"  16  by 
12,  within  two  years  after  date  of  sale  and  pay  a  quit- rent.  Before  the 
end  of  1736,  Market  Street,  Front  Street,  Dock  Street,  Mulberry 
Street,  Chestnut  Street,  Red  Cross  Street,  King  Street,  Queen  Street, 
and  Nunfns]  Street  were  already  in  existence.  Settlers  came  from 
England,  Scotland,  New  England,  Brunswick,  the  Albemarle,  and 
the  Channel  Islands,  and  the  town  grew  rapidly.  The  inhabitants 
were  mostly  mariners,  artisans,  merchants,  innkeepers,  with  a  physi- 
cian or  two  and  a  clergyman.  Unlike  Brunswick  it  had  at  first  few 
residents  who  combined  the  pleasures  of  town  and  country  and  who 
possessed,  in  addition  to  their  houses  in  town,  plantations  along  the 
banks  of  the  Cape  Fear.  Though  in  1765  it  contained  less  than  eight 
hundred  people,  it  had  been  for  some  years  dubbed  "our  metropolis" 
(South  Carolina  Gazette,  Sept.  23,  1748),  and  before  Miss  Schaw's 
arrival  had  become  the  leading  town  in  the  province. 

Wilmington's  rapid  advance  to  this  position  of  prominence  was 
due  less  to  Governor  Johnston's  efforts  than  to  the  natural  advan- 
tages of  its  location.  Brunswick  was  too  near  the  mouth  of  the  river 
and  as  a  port  was  too  open  to  the  sea.  The  situation  exposed  it  to 
storm  and  the  attacks  of  pirates  and  rendered  it  dangerous  as  a  moor- 
ing ground  for  rafts  of  lumber  and  lighters  of  naval  stores  which 
were  the  leading  staples  of  that  part  of  the  province.  It  had  no  ade- 
quate back-country  as  an  area  of  supply,  was  not  readily  accessible 
from  the  north,  for  the  river  at  that  point  was  too  wide  for  easy  and 
rapid  ferriage,  and  in  general  was  too  remote  from  the  other  main 
thoroughfares  of  the  province.  Wilmington,  on  the  other  hand,  had 
a  secure  and  sheltered  harbor,  of  fresh  water  free  from  the  sea- 
worms  which  destroyed  ships  lying  in  salt  water,  was  readily  reached 
from  other  ports  of  the  province,  and  fitted  in  admirably  with  the 

*  James  Wimble  was  the  author  of  a  Chart  of  his  Majesty's  Province  of 
North  Carolina,  which  was  engraved  and  printed  according  to  act  of  parlia- 
ment in  1738.  It  was  sold  by  Mount  &  Page  in  London  and  by  "the  author 
in  Boston,  New  England."  On  this  map  Wilmington  is  represented  as  a  much 
larger  town  than  Brunswick,  perhaps  with  intent. 


284     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

demands  of  the  postal  system,  which  after  1740  was  extended  south- 
ward from  Virginia.  Peter  du  Bois  wrote  of  it  in  1757,  "I  have  not 
yet  had  time  to  take  a  minute  survey  of  this  town,  but  from  what  I 
have  yet  seen  it  has  greatly  the  preference  in  my  esteem  to  New  Bern. 
I  confess  the  spot  on  which  its  built  is  not  so  level  nor  of  so  good  a 
soil,  but  the  regularity  of  the  streets  are  [sic]  equal  to  those  of 
Philadelp[hi]a  and  the  buildings  in  general  very  good.  Many  of 
brick,  two  and  three  stores  high  with  double  piazas,  wch  make  a  good 
appearafnce]"  (Hayes  Collection). 

Wilmington  was  a  town  under  commissioners  elected  by  the  free- 
holders until  1760,  when  by  royal  charter  under  the  provincial  seal, 
dated  Brunswick,  February  25,  1760,  and  signed  Arthur  Dobbs 
(Borough  Records,  pp.  92-97,  and  at  the  end),  it  was  erected  into  a 
borough.  Town  government  and  borough  government  continued  side 
by  side,  the  liberties  and  precincts  of  the  latter  including  Eagles 
Island  and  an  area  stretching  two  and  a  half  miles  on  all  sides  from 
the  court  house.  It  was  given  the  usual  powers  of  a  borough — a 
mayor's  court,  markets,  fairs,  and  a  court  of  piepowder.  Its  govern- 
ment consisted  of  a  mayor,  a  recorder,  and  eleven  aldermen,  and  these 
with  the  freeholders  constituted  the  Common  Council,  which  made 
by-laws.  The  earliest  mayors  (each  dubbed  "His  Worshipful")  were 
John  Sampson,  Frederick  Gregg,  Caleb  Mason  (who  declined  the 
office),  and  Moses  John  DeRosset;  the  earliest  recorders  were  Mar- 
maduke  Jones  and  William  Hooper,  the  latter  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard. In  1766  Cornelius  Harnett  was  chosen  to  represent  the  borough 
in  the  provincial  assembly  (ib.,  pp.  99,  103,  107,  127,  128). 

The  "regularity"  of  which  Du  Bois  speaks  was  due  to  design.  There 
appear  to  have  been  three  consecutive  plans  for  laying  out  the  town : 
that  of  Higgins  et  al.,  already  mentioned;  that  of  Michael  Higgin- 
botham  ("late  of  Newton,  mariner,"  1737)  ;  and  that  of  Jeremiah 
Vail,  who  in  1743  was  employed  to  resurvey  the  town  and  draft  a 
plan.  This  plan,  mentioned  in  the  Wilmington  Act  of  November  30, 
1745  (N.  C.  State  Records,  XXIII,  234-237),  was  accepted  as  offi- 
cial by  a  final  Wilmington  Act  of  1754  (ib.,  XXV,  237-263),  and, 
with  slight  changes  and  allowances  for  increase  of  territory,  remains 
the  official  plan  for  the  present  city. 

The  town  was  built  on  uneven  ground,  rising  from  the  lowest  level 
at  the  river  end  of  Market  Street,  where  were  the  wharves  and  the 
town  house  (under  which  was  the  town  market),  east  and  south  to 
lands  higher  than  they  are  today,  constituting  in  the  main  the  resi- 
dence districts.  The  "hills,"  as  Miss  Schaw  calls  them,  were  the  eleva- 


APPENDICES  285 


tions  toward  Third  or  Broad  Street,  in  one  direction,  and  the  "Bound- 
ary," now  Wooster  Street,  in  the  other.  There  were  few  houses  be- 
yond these  points,  which  lay  in  a  sense  outside  the  town  proper.  Even 
Third  Street  is  represented  on  Sauthier's  plan  of  1769  as  little  more 
than  a  country  road,  but  in  the  five  or  six  years  before  Miss  Schaw's 
arrival,  it  had  become  a  residence  street.  Near  the  Market  Street 
corner,  on  the  east  side,  was  Mrs.  Heron's  house,  with  piazza,  brick 
cellar,  and  steps  on  the  street;  across  Market  Street,  below  the  jail, 
were  the  houses  and  lots  of  Duncan  and  Dry,  and  farther  down,  the 
house  of  George  Parker.  Dr.  Tucker  occupied  a  shop  on  Front  Street ; 
Dr.  Cobham's  house,  with  piazza  and  steps,  was  between  Princess  and 
Chestnut  streets;  and  the  house  in  which  Rutherfurd  lived  until  he 
removed  to  "Bowland"  may  have  been  that  lying  west  of  William 
Dry's,  "above  the  Market  House,"  which  he  transferred  to  Ancrum 
&  Schaw  in  1768  and  finally  gave  up  to  Murray  of  Philiphaugh  in 
1772  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  F,  11).  The  matter  is,  however, 
rendered  uncertain  by  the  fact  that  he  and  his  wife  sold  some  Wil- 
mington property  before  buying  "Bowland"  (ib.,  E,  i),  and  this 
property  may  have  included  their  dwelling  house. 

Wilmington  had  at  this  time  a  public  whipping  post,  a  ducking 
stool,  a  burying  ground  which  lay  to  the  rear  of  Mrs.  Heron's  prop- 
erty on  Third  Street,  and  two  water  engines  or  fire  engines  with  hose, 
the  first  of  which  was  bought  by  Captain  Benjamin  Heron  in  1756 
through  his  brother  in  England  (Alexander  Duncan  serving  as 
keeper  in  1759,  for  which  two  of  his  family  were  exempted  from 
working  on  the  streets)  ;  and  the  second  purchased  in  Philadelphia  by 
Ancrum  &  Schaw  in  1772  (Wilmington  Town  Records,  pp.  34,  41, 
56,  64,  68,  73,  159,  163,  179). 


VII.  James  Innes  and  Francis  Corbin. 

James  Innes. 

IN  the  year  1751  there  sat  at  the  council  board  of  North  Carolina 
Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  and  seven  councillors,  among  whom  were 
James  Innes,  Francis  Corbin,  James  Murray,  and  John  Rutherfurd, 
friends  and  associates,  standing  to  each  other  on  varying  terms  of 


286     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

intimacy.  Though  Johnston  and  Corbin  had  been  political  antago- 
nists, nevertheless  the  five  men  belonged  to  a  common  group.  Innesand 
Murray  were  very  intimate,  for,  next  to  Thomas  Clarke,  Innes  was 
Murray's  best  friend  in  the  colony;  Murray  and  Rutherfurd,  as  we 
shall  see,  came  to  the  Cape  Fear  together  and  worked  together  for 
twenty-five  years.  Innes  and  Corbin  were  in  constant  touch  personally 
and  officially,  and  Mrs.  Corbin  was  the  "great  friend"  of  Rutherfurd 
and  his  wife,  named  one  of  her  slaves  "Rutherfurd,"  and  left  her 
property  to  the  Rutherfurd  children.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  two  of 
the  men  who  sat  at  the  council  board,  Corbin  and  Rutherfurd,  should 
have  married  eventually  the  widows  of  two  of  the  others,  Innes  and 
Johnston. 

Colonel  James  Innes,  the  first  husband  of  Jean  Corbin, — the  old 
lady  mentioned  in  the  Journal, — was  a  Scotsman,  born  in  Cannesby, 
county  Caithness,  a  far-away  region  in  northern  Scotland,  from  which 
others  also  migrated  to  North  Carolina.  He  probably  came  to  the 
colony  with  Governor  Johnston  in  September,  1734,  and  with  his 
wife,  whom  in  his  will  he  calls  "the  companion  of  my  life,"  settled  on 
the  Cape  Fear.  He  early  became  prominent  in  the  province,  holding 
many  offices  of  trust,  civil  and  military,  and  winning  the  esteem  of 
his  contemporaries  as  an  honorable  man  and  an  honest  and  efficient 
public  servant.  He  served  as  captain  of  the  Wilmington  company  of 
North  Carolina  troops  in  the  expedition  against  Cartagena  in  1740 
(Connor,  History  of  North  Carolina,  I,  262),  and  was  appointed 
after  his  return  colonel  of  militia  in  New  Hanover  county.  In  1754 
he  was  spoken  of  as  an  old  and  experienced  officer.  His  military  ser- 
vice and  close  intimacy  with  Governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia — they 
called  each  other  by  their  first  names — led  to  his  being  selected  to  lead 
the  provincial  troops  in  the  Braddock  expedition.  His  connection  with 
that  campaign  is  well  known. 

Innes  played  a  prominent  part  in  civil  life  also  and  served  his 
colony  in  many  capacities,  but  his  aptitudes  were  military  rather  than 
civil  and  he  never  became  a  political  leader  or  a  seeker  for  offices. 
Governor  Johnston  recommended  him  for  the  council  and  he  sat  at 
the  board  under  Johnston  and  his  successor,  Dobbs,  for  nearly  ten 
years.  His  relations  with  Corbin  began  at  least  as  early  as  1750,  when 
the  latter,  as  land  agent  for  Lord  Granville,  associated  him  with  him- 
self as  co-agent,  and  from  that  time  to  1754,  when  he  was  dismissed 
by  Lord  Granville,  Innes  acted  with  Corbin  in  the  Granville  interest, 
journeying  two  hundred  miles  through  the  wilderness,  from  the  Cape 
Fear  to  Edenton,  to  perform  his  duties.  None  of  the  charges  brought 


APPENDICES  287 

against  Corbin  were  ever  seriously  raised  against  Innes,  and  he 
emerges  scatheless  from  an  employment  which,  dependent  as  it  was  on 
fees  and  perquisites,  created  an  irresistible  itch  for  money.  Innes  died 
September  5,  1759,  and  two  years  afterward  Corbin  married  his 
widow  (shortly  after  October,  1761).  Mrs.  Jean  Corbin  was  an  "old 
woman"  in  1775;  what  her  age  was  when  she  married  her  second 
husband  must  be  left  to  conjecture.  People  grew  old  early  in  colonial 
days;  one  was  already  "an  old  aged  man"  at  sixty-one  {Maryland 
Archives,  X,  78,  165).  Innes  was  born  about  1700;  she  may  have 
been  a  few  years  younger. 


Francis  Corbin. 

The  Honorable  Francis  Corbin,  as  he  was  frequently  called,  was 
appointed  land  agent  for  Lord  Granville,  September,  1744,  and  came 
to  North  Carolina  from  London  in  November  of  the  same  year,  for 
the  purpose  of  "setting  off  to  Lord  Granville  one-eighth  part  of  the 
colony."  He  was  associated  in  succession  with  five  co-agents,  of  whom 
Innes  was  one,  and  managed  to  hold  on  to  his  own  position  success- 
fully till  1760.  At  one  time  or  another  he  was  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
an  assistant  judge,  commissary  and  judge  of  vice-admiralty  in  1754, 
colonel  of  the  Chowan  militia  in  1757,  member  of  the  council,  deputy 
to  the  assembly,  and  a  frequent  appointee  on  commissions  and  com- 
mittees in  the  assembly  and  out.  He  was  prominent  in  the  affairs  of 
St.  Paul's  Church,  Edenton,  and  it  is  probable  that  his  influence 
there  was  of  material  assistance  in  his  political  career.  He  was  keen, 
efficient,  and  aggressive  even  to  turbulence,  but  of  a  personality  and 
character  that  has  not  endeared  him  to  posterity.  He  was  probably 
honest  enough  in  his  way,  for,  as  far  as  we  know,  no  charges  of  a 
dishonorable  nature  were  ever  made  except  in  connection  with  his  fees 
as  Granville's  agent,  and  in  this  particular  we  are  not  sure  that  he  did 
anything  strictly  illegal ;  but  at  the  same  time  it  is  difficult  to  avoid 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  deficient  in  some  of  the  qualities  that  make 
for  moral  uprightness  and  political  stability.  One  may  be  prejudiced, 
but  it  seems  a  fitting  thing  that  Corbin  should  have  taken  a  liking 
for  a  woman  whom  Miss  Schaw  describes  as  not  of  the  best  character 
or  of  the  most  amiable  manners  and  whose  evil  deeds  she  hopes  will 
be  forgiven.  The  wonder  is  that  Jean  Corbin  should  ever  have  been 
Innes's  "loving  wife." 

In  the  performance  of  their  duties  as  agents  for  Lord  Granville, 


288     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Corbin  and  his  first  colleague,  Child,  were  charged  with  acting  "in 
concert  to  make  the  most  that  they  could  of  the  fees  and  perquisites 
of  his  Lordship's  office  for  their  own  emolument,  at  the  expense  of 
the  people,  by  which  means  they  procured  great  sums  for  themselves 
and  little  for  his  lordship."  When  Bodley  became  co-agent,  the  com- 
plaints became  so  insistent  and  the  abuses  apparently  so  flagrant  that 
the  assembly  appointed  a  committee  to  inquire  into  the  matter. 
Though  the  committee  reported  that  in  the  main  the  charges  were 
true,  the  assembly  took  no  further  action  and  in  consequence  a  num- 
ber of  Granville's  grantees,  exasperated  because  of  their  failure  to 
obtain  legal  redress,  marched  to  Corbin's  house  near  Edenton,  seized 
that  gentleman,  carried  him  off  in  his  own  chaise  to  Enfield,  the 
county  seat  some  sixty  or  more  miles  away,  and  there  compelled  him 
to  sign  a  bond  to  disgorge.  This  riotous  proceeding  so  scandalized 
the  assembly  that  at  its  next  session,  in  May,  1759,  it  sought  to  secure 
the  punishment  of  "the  authors  of  [the]  several  riots,  routs,  and 
unlawful  assemblies  within  Lord  Granville's  district."  But  the  effort 
came  to  nothing,  and  the  chief  interest  in  the  incident  lies  in  its  reflec- 
tion upon  Corbin's  character  and  the  attitude  of  the  assembly,  and 
in  its  place  in  the  history  of  the  colony  as  a  forerunner  of  the  Regula- 
tors' War. 

Though  unmolested  by  the  assembly,  Corbin  did  not  escape  so 
easily  in  his  conflict  with  the  governor.  In  1748  he  had  joined  with 
others  in  a  letter  to  Secretary  Bedford,  charging  Johnston  with 
misfeasance  in  office,  but  the  secretary  took  no  action,  the  Privy 
Council  dismissed  the  charge,  and  Corbin  continued  to  sit  on  John- 
ston's council.  When,  however,  in  1758  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
assembly  against  Dobbs,  that  excitable  upholder  of  the  prerogative 
suspended  him  from  the  council  for  prevarication  and  non-attendance, 
and  removed  him  from  his  positions  as  assistant  judge  and  colonel  of 
militia.  In  1760  he  was  dismissed  by  Granville  from  his  post  of  agent 
also.  Despite  these  humiliating  experiences,  perhaps  because  of  them, 
Corbin  was  immediately  elected  to  the  assembly  from  Chowan  county, 
and  acting  with  Child,  Barker,  and  Jones,  whom  Dobbs  character- 
ized as  the  "northern  junto,"  resisted  the  efforts  which  Dobbs  was 
making,  during  the  remaining  years  of  his  administration,  to  main- 
tain in  unnecessarily  arbitrary  fashion  the  legal  claims  of  the  crown. 
Though  Tryon  suggested  that  Corbin  be  restored  to  the  council  in 
1766,  nothing  came  of  the  nomination,  probably  because  of  his  death, 
which  took  place  sometime  in  1766  or  1767.  He  left  no  will,  and  his 
estate,  except  such  portions  as  were  given  his  wife  in  the  marriage 


APPENDICES  289 

settlement  of  1761,  was  disposed  of  at  auction,  at  which  his  wife  bid 
in  some  of  her  husband's  personal  property. 

Corbin  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Chowan  county,  on  a 
plantation  two  or  three  miles  from  Edenton.*  In  1758  he  began  the 
erection  in  Edenton  of  the  Cupola  House,  a  famous  old  building 
which  is  still  standing  and  which  bears  on  its  gable-post  or  ornament 
the  initials  "F.  C."  and  the  date  "1758,"  but  it  is  doubtful  if  he  ever 
lived  there.f  When  he  went  to  the  Cape  Fear  we  do  not  certainly 
know,  but  it  was  before  his  marriage  with  Mrs.  Innes4  He  could 
have  continued  to  represent  Chowan  county,  even  though  living  at 
"Point  Pleasant,"  provided  he  retained  in  the  county  for  which  he 
stood  real  estate  to  the  extent  of  at  least  one  hundred  acres.  He  was 
buried,  as  Miss  Schaw  says,  at  the  bottom  of  the  lawn  on  the  "Point 
Pleasant"  plantation,  not  far  from  the  grave  of  James  Innes,  between 
whom  and  Corbin  the  old  lady  herself  at  last  found  rest  "in  a  very 
decent  snug  quarter." 


VIII.  James  Murray  and  John  Rutherf  urd. 

James  Murray. 

1  HE  career  of  James  Murray  is  well  told  in  the  Letters  of  James 
Murray,  Loyalist.  He  was  connected  with  the  Murrays  of  Philip- 
haugh,  one  of  whom,  his  cousin  David,  the  second  living  son  of  John 
Murray  of  Philiphaugh,  died  in  Savannah,  April  29,  1771.  He  had  a 
brother  John,  who  became  a  doctor  and  afterwards  married  Lady 

*  The  exact  location  of  this  plantation  seems  to  be  unknown.  In  his  mar- 
riage settlement  Corbin  describes  his  own  property  as  a  half  acre  of  land 
and  a  wharf  in  Edenton,  and  Strawberry  Island  near  Edenton,  with  houses, 
outhouses,  and  improvements.  Dr.  Dillard  identifies  this  island  with  the 
present  John  Island.  Perhaps  the  plantation  referred  to  was  there,  but  the 
identification  is  far  from  certain. 

fin  1760  Corbin  made  a  deed  leaving  the  Cupola  House  to  his  prospective 
wife,  Jean  Innes,  and  after  her  death  to  his  natural  heirs.  It  went  eventually 
to  his  brother,  Edward  Corbin  (North  Carolina  Booklet,  XV,  205-217). 

Jin  October,  1761,  he  is  spoken  of  as  "late  of  Chowan  County,"  so  that 
he  must  have  left  the  Albemarle  region  before  that  date  (Register's  Office, 
Conveyances,  E,  88-94).  His  marriage  was  solemnized  shortly  afterwards. 


290     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Anne  Cromartie,  widow  of  Edmund  Atkins,  superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs  in  the  Southern  Department,  who  died  in  1761.  He  was  re- 
lated also  to  the  Rutherfurds,  for  he  calls  John  "cousin"  and  had  had 
him  in  charge  in  London  before  coming  to  America.  In  fact,  James 
Murray,  David  Murray,  and  John  Rutherfurd  were  all  descended,  in 
the  third  generation  and  in  different  lines,  from  a  common  great- 
grandfather, Sir  John  Murray  of  Philiphaugh. 

James  Murray  came  to  Carolina  in  1735,  leaving  "Johnnie"  in 
London.  He  arrived  in  Charles  Town  on  November  27  of  that  year 
and  was  at  Brunswick  at  the  beginning  of  1736.  There  he  rented  a 
house  of  Roger  Moore  and  opened  a  store,  but  falling  out  with  the 
Moores  he  went  to  Wilmington,  bought  a  house  and  lot  there,  and 
entered  into  the  business  and  social  life  of  the  town  and  province. 
Later  he  acquired  a  plantation,  "Point  Repose,"  on  the  Northwest 
at  the  mouth  of  Hood's  Creek,  and  gradually  drew  out  of  trade  in 
order  to  devote  himself  to  an  agricultural  and  farming  life.  During 
his  thirty  years  of  residence  in  the  colony  he  held  many  important 
offices  in  town  and  county  and  under  the  crown.  He  was  at  one  time 
or  another  commissioner  for  Wilmington,  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
deputy  naval  officer,  secretary,  clerk  of  the  council  and  clerk  of  the 
crown,  deputy  paymaster  under  Innes,  a  vestryman  of  St.  Philip's, 
and  for  thirty  years  (except  for  the  period  of  his  suspension,  1757- 
1763)  a  member  of  the  governor's  council  and  after  1763  its  presi- 
dent. He  was  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Governor  Johnston,  but  was 
unfriendly  toward  Governor  Dobbs,  who  suspended  him  from  the 
council,  and  he  was  always  antagonistic  to  the  Brunswick  group  led 
by  Dry  and  the  Moores. 

He  went  to  England  in  1738,  but  came  back  the  next  year,  bring- 
ing with  him  the  young  John  Rutherfurd.  Both  he  and  Rutherfurd 
were  abroad  from  1741  to  1743.  For  the  third  time  Murray  crossed 
the  water  in  1744  to  marry,  as  his  first  wife,  his  cousin  Barbara 
Bennet,  who  returned  as  far  as  Boston  with  him  in  1749,  but  joined 
him  in  the  colony  the  next  year.  From  that  time,  until  he  withdrew 
permanently  to  Massachusetts  in  1765,  he  continued  to  reside  in 
North  Carolina.  As  a  man  of  strong  loyalist  sympathies  he  was  out 
of  touch  with  the  revolutionary  movement,  whether  in  the  South  or  in 
New  England,  and  toward  the  end  of  his  career  found  himself 
obliged  to  migrate  again,  and  for  the  third  time,  from  Massachusetts 
to  Halifax,  where  he  died  in  1780. 

Murray  was  a  man  of  strong  will  and  of  a  masterful  tempera- 
ment, though  not  a  politician  and  with  little  liking  for  the  responsi- 


APPENDICES  291 


bilities  of  office.  He  preferred  the  quiet  life  of  a  merchant  or  a  coun- 
try gentleman,  but  at  the  express  request  of  Governor  Johnston  was 
persuaded  to  accept  a  position  under  government  and  once  in  office 
the  accumulation  of  posts  became  easier.  He  had  energy  and  when  in 
public  service  was  inclined  to  want  his  own  way.  He  quarrelled  with 
Dobbs,  who  charged  him  with  leading  a  cabal  against  himself,  and 
in  all  his  relations  with  Rutherfurd  played  the  part  of  patron  and 
friend  somewhat  more  dictatorily  than  their  relationship  warranted. 
He  suffered  severely  from  deaths  in  his  family,  and  though  keeping 
his  feelings  well  under  control  was  frequently  desolate  and  troubled 
in  spirit.  He  was  given  to  pessimistic  views  of  life  and  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time  weighed  heavily  upon  him.  He  was  law-abiding, 
conservative,  and  cautious,  without  enthusiasm  or  strong  emotions, 
and  he  was  as  blind  as  was  Miss  Schaw  herself  to  the  significance  of 
the  events  taking  place  about  him.  He  possessed  none  of  the  qualities 
of  a  revolutionist. 


John  Rutherfurd. 

John  Rutherfurd,  his  protege  and  the  father  of  the  children  who 
accompanied  Miss  Schaw  to  America,  was  probably  less  than  twenty 
years  old  when  he  came  to  the  colony,  and  for  a  while  he  lived  with 
Murray  at  his  house  in  Wilmington  and  served  as  clerk  in  his  store. 
In  1750,  through  the  influence  of  Dinwiddie,  at  that  time  surveyor- 
general  of  customs,  he  was  appointed  receiver-general  of  quit-rents, 
the  duties  of  which  and  of  the  deputies  thereto  appointed  in  every 
county  outside  the  Granville  area,  were  to  "collect  from  the  tenants 
of  the  king's  lands  the  fee-farms  or  quit-rents  reserved  to  the  crown 
and  to  account  for  and  disburse  the  same  according  to  the  instruction 
from  the  Sovereign."  His  profits  arose  from  the  commissions  allowed 
upon  his  receipt  of  these  rents  (N.  C.  R.  VII,  484).  For  reasons  that 
need  not  be  discussed  here,  he  was  removed  from  this  position  by 
Dobbs,  at  the  same  time  that  he  and  Murray  were  suspended  from 
the  council,  and  he  was  not  restored  until  1761,  after  he  had  made  a 
trip  to  England  and  Scotland  and  had  presented  his  case  to  the 
Treasury  and  the  Board  of  Trade.  After  reinstatement  he  continued 
to  hold  the  position  until  1775. 

Rutherfurd  by  all  accounts  was  not  well  suited  to  the  post,  a  diffi- 
cult one  at  best  and  made  doubly  so  by  the  unwillingness  of  the 
colonists  to  meet  their  obligations.  Murray  said  that  Rutherfurd  was 
too  good-natured  and  of  too  easy  a  temper  to  be  efficient.  Dobbs 


292     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

charged  him  with  indolence  and  neglect  of  duty,  but  threw  some  of 
the  blame  for  his  earlier  conduct  upon  Murray  himself,  who  (he 
said)  wrote  Rutherfurd's  letters  and  had  him  "entirely  under  his 
influence."  It  is  always  wise,  however,  to  take  Dobbs's  charges  with 
caution.  Rutherfurd  made  a  satisfactory  defence  before  the  Treasury 
and  the  Board  of  Trade  and  was  able  to  impress  upon  them  the  injus- 
tice of  his  dismissal. 

Yet  when  all  allowances  are  made,  the  conclusion  must  be  reached 
that  Rutherfurd  was  not  a  satisfactory  receiver  of  quit-rents.  It  is 
quite  likely  that  his  failure  may  have  been  due  in  part  to  the  intrica- 
cies of  the  system  and  that  Dobbs's  action  may  have  been  prompted 
by  a  desire  to  break  up  the  junto  or  cabal  which  he  thought  was  work- 
ing against  him.  But  these  reasons  will  hardly  serve  to  explain  Gov- 
ernor Martin's  strictures  upon  Rutherfurd's  conduct.  Martin  charged 
Rutherfurd  with  a  want  of  "proper  diligence  and  exertion"  and 
recommended  his  dismissal  a  second  time  as  one  who  was  "in  every 
respect  utterly  disqualified  for  the  position."  "Mr.  Rutherfurd  .  .  . 
is  unhappily  the  receiver-general  of  His  Majesty's  revenues,"  he 
wrote  Lord  Dartmouth  in  1774,  "of  excellent  temper  but  strangely 
confused  understanding,  and  actually  disqualified  by  invincible  deaf- 
ness for  public  business"  (N.  C.  R.  IX,  973).  Of  Rutherfurd's  deaf- 
ness we  have  other  evidence.  In  1758,  when  in  London,  he  wrote  Lord 
Granville  that  he  wished  to  resign  his  seat  in  the  council,  "because 
my  hearing  is  so  bad  that  I  can't  discharge  my  duty  as  I  could  wish 
and  desire"  (ib.,  V,  959).  It  may  be  that  his  deafness  had  something 
to  do  with  his  failure  as  receiver.  Yet  he  continued  to  sit  on  the  gov- 
ernor's council  to  the  end,  served  as  a  member  of  a  court  of  claims 
in  1773,  was  frequently  on  committees,  and  seems  to  have  had  no 
trouble  in  carrying  on  ordinary  conversation  and  doing  his  private 
business. 

There  are  ample  manifestations  that  Rutherfurd  was  energetic 
and  efficient  in  many  directions.  In  1751-1752  he  obtained  a  number 
of  judgments  against  the  estate  of  Colonel  Robert  Halton  for  non- 
payment of  quit-rents,  seized  several  parcels  of  Halton's  lands,  put 
them  up  at  public  vendue,  and  had  them  sold  to  the  highest  bidder 
(Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  B.  C.,  24;  Brunswick  County  Rec- 
ords, A,  12).  He  went  to  England  and  Scotland  in  1758  and  was 
gone  three  years  obtaining  a  reversal  of  his  suspension.  He  defended 
himself  with  adroitness  and  vigor  in  the  letters  that  he  sent  to  the 
Treasury  and  the  Board  of  Trade.  When  in  London  in  1761  he  wrote 
a  pamphlet,  The  Importance  of  the  Colonies  to  Great  Britain,  which 


APPENDICES  293 


was  considered  good  enough  to  be  printed.  He  and  his  brother 
Thomas,*  who  died  in  1781,  were  both  colonels  of  militia,  one  in 
New  Hanover  and  the  other  in  Cumberland  county.  Of  his  frequent 
journeyings  we  have  ample  testimony.  He  visited  Charles  Town  a 
number  of  times  and  in  1768-1769  went  as  far  as  Georgia  {South 
Carolina  Gazette,  March  30,  1769).  He  served  the  colony  well  on 
two  important  commissions,  involving  tedious  travel  and  hard  labor 
— one  in  1767  to  settle  the  boundary  line  with  the  Cherokees,  and  the 
other  in  1772,  an  undertaking  of  seventy-six  days,  for  which  he  was 
never  paid,  to  determine  the  line  between  North  and  South  Carolina. 
Henry  Laurens  of  Charles  Town,  whom  he  visited  and  with  whom 
he  had  business  dealings,  thought  well  of  him.  "A  worthy  man,"  he 
calls  him,  "a  sensible  worthy  man,  of  a  good  fortune,  and  an  exceed- 
ingly good  planter  and  farmer,"  and  again,  "an  agreeable  worthy 
man,  a  good  planter,  farmer  and  mechanick."  With  him,  Laurens 
says,  he  had  many  talks  "of  new  methods  of  planting  and  new 
articles  to  plant"  (Laurens  Letter  Books).  Of  Rutherfurd's  interest 
in  agriculture,  Miss  Schaw  gives  an  interesting  account,  while  what 
she  says  of  his  plantation  does  not  suggest  either  indolence  or  ineffi- 
ciency. 

In  1754,  sometime  after  May  6,  Rutherfurd  married  Frances,  the 
widow,  first,  of  one  Button  (of  whom  we  know  nothing  more),  and 
second  of  Governor  Johnston.  She  was  Johnston's  second  wife  and 
possibly  his  third,  for  such  accounts  as  we  have  of  Johnston's  life 
before  he  married  Penelope  Galland,  Governor  Eden's  stepdaugh- 
ter, sometime  between  1737  and  1741,  would  indicate  that  he  had 
been  married  before.f  However  that  may  be,  he  married  Mrs.  Button 
in  1751  and  died  himself  at  his  seat,  "Eden  House,"  in  Bertie  county, 

*  That  Thomas  Rutherfurd  was  John's  brother  appears  from  the  latter's 
letter,  dated  March  16,  1782,  from  Charles  Town,  mentioning  the  death  of 
his  brother  Thomas,  and  saying  that  he  was  now  caring  for  his  widow  and 
children. 

fin  1735  Governor  Johnston  traveled  from  Cape  Fear  to  Edenton  "with 
his  equipage  and  family,"  and  in  1737  was  occupying  his  own  plantation  on 
Salmon  Creek  across  the  Chowan  River  from  Edenton.  It  is  known  that  the 
governor  had  two  natural  children,  Henry,  who  died  in  1772,  and  Caroline, 
who  was  probably  demented  or  at  least  weak-minded.  It  may  be  that  these 
constituted  the  "family"  referred  to.  Penelope  Galland  had  married,  first, 
William  Maule,  who  died  in  1726;  second,  John  Lovick,  who  died  in  1734; 
third,  George  Phenney,  who  died  in  1737 ;  and  some  time  after  that  date, 
Governor  Johnston,  to  whom  we  know  she  was  married  in  1741,  for  Hathe- 
way  prints  a  deed  of  that  year  signed  by  both  of  them  (North  Carolina  His- 
torical and  Genealogical  Register,  I,  54). 


294     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

in  1752.  Frances  was  still  a  "young  widow"  when  she  married  Ruth- 
erfurd,  and  in  appearance  small,  as  we  learn  from  Samuel  Johnston's 
letter  to  his  son,  1754,  in  which  he  says,  "Mrs.  Rutherfurd  has  a 
brother  come  in,  one  about  seventeen  years  old,  very  small  and  like 
his  sister ;  talks  and  behaves  like  a  man,  makes  me  believe  him  older, 
but  is  probably  designed  for  Miss"  (Hayes  Collection).*  She  became 
the  mother  of  the  three  children  of  Miss  Schaw's  narrative  and  her- 
self died  early  in  the  year  1768.  Who  she  was  or  where  she  came  from 
originally  we  have  not  been  able  to  discover. 

In  the  settlement  of  Governor  Johnston's  will  there  was  consider- 
able controversy  and  even  litigation,  and  Rutherfurd  was  engaged  for 
many  years  in  closing  up  the  estate.  That  he  did  not  perform  this 
task  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Johnston  family  is  well  known.  Samuel 
wrote  to  his  son  in  1757 :  "I  don't  know  what  to  think  of  Mr.  Ruther- 
furd, he  has  never  any  money.  He  offered  me  one  order  on  you  and 
when  it  came  it  was  after  this  manner,  pay  such  and  such  people  and 
the  remaining  part  send  to  your  father,  which  I  returned  him" 
(Hayes  Collection)  .f  The  most  troublesome  questions  were  the 
amount  due  Penelope  under  Henry  Johnston's  will  and  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  arrears  of  Governor  Johnston's  salary.  The  latter  was  not 
effected  for  nearly  fifty  years,  as  will  be  noted  elsewhere  (Appendix 
X).  In  1752  the  British  government  owed  Johnston's  estate  more 
than  £12,000,  arrears  of  salary.  Mrs.  Rutherfurd  put  in  a  claim  for 
this  amount  and  after  considerable  difficulty  and  expense  Rutherfurd 
when  in  England  obtained  a  royal  warrant,  dated  February  5,  1761 

*  "Miss"  was  undoubtedly  Penelope  Johnston,  daughter  of  the  governor 
by  Penelope  Galland.  She  must  have  been  at  this  time  about  fourteen  or 
fifteen  years  old.  In  his  will  (Grimes,  269-271)  the  governor  mentions  his 
daughter  and  earnestly  requests  his  "dearest  wife"  to  be  a  kind  mother  to 
his  "dear  little  girl,"  then  (1751)  perhaps  ten  or  eleven.  He  left  her  a  be- 
quest of  lands  and  negroes,  but  did  not  include  her  among  those  who  had  a 
share  in  the  residuary  estate.  But  on  the  death  of  Henry  Johnston  in  1772, 
she  fell  heir  to  his  fifth  share  of  that  estate  and  was  engaged  for  many  years 
in  endeavoring  to  secure  an  accounting  of  her  portion.  She  married  John 
Dawson,  who  died  before  her,  and  she  was  still  living,  as  the  widow  Dawson, 
in  1798. 

f  Among  the  manuscripts  in  the  possession  of  the  North  Carolina  His- 
torical Commission  is  an  "Account  of  John  Rutherfurd  and  Frances  his  wife 
with  the  Estate  of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston,"  which  covers  the  years  1752 
to  1756.  It  was  sworn  to  before  James  Murray,  J.  P.,  February  10,  1756,  and 
is  signed  by  Rutherfurd  and  his  wife.  Its  later  pages  contain  accounts  of 
money  disbursed  for  Eden  House,  Mount  Galland,  and  Fishing  Creek  planta- 
tions, with  items  regarding  Henry  Johnston,  Caroline  or  Carey,  his  sister,  and 
Penelope  (education  at  Williamsburg  =  £83.  16.  6). 


APPENDICES  295 


(Treasury  52:51,  p.  437),  authorizing  the  payment.  As  the  North 
Carolina  quit-rents  were  not  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  the  warrant 
was  addressed  to  George  Saxby,  receiver-general  for  South  Carolina, 
instructing  him  to  pay  over  to  the  Johnston  heirs  the  entire  amount 
from  the  quit- rents  of  that  province.  As  late  as  1767  we  find  Ruther- 
furd  endeavoring  to  obtain  from  Saxby,  through  Henry  Laurens, 
attorney  to  the  estate,  payment  of  the  sum  authorized  by  the  Treas- 
ury.* Before  his  death  he  had  secured  all  but  £2018  of  the  whole,  but 
as  we  shall  see  in  discussing  the  later  history  of  the  claim  (Appendix 
X)  he  appropriated  to  his  own  use  a  larger  share  of  what  he  obtained 
than  he  was  entitled  to  receive  as  administrator  of  his  wife's  estate. 

Rutherfurd  began  to  accumulate  property  early  in  the  fifties.  In 
1755,  the  year  after  his  marriage,  he  was  assessed  in  the  Wilmington 
valuation  of  that  year  at  £225  and  his  taxables  were  rated  at  ten. 
He  had  a  house  in  Wilmington  and  was  living  there  as  freeholder  as 
early  as  1747.  In  1749  he  was  elected  a  town  commissioner,  but  leav- 
ing the  province  at  the  time,  he  was  reflected  in  1751  and  continued 
to  serve  for  a  number  of  years.  In  common  with  many  others,  among 
whom  were  his  fellow  Scots,  Duncan,  Schaw,  Ancrum,  Robert  Hogg, 
and  George  Parker,  he  was  frequently  cited  for  neglecting  to  work 
on  the  streets,  bridges,  and  wharves  of  the  town — the  duty  of  every 
taxable — and  at  one  time  was  subject  to  fines  running  as  high  as  £9 
(Wilmington  Town  Records,  passim).  He  was  of  the  firm  of  Ruther- 
furd &  Co.,  dealers  in  lumber  and  merchandise,  in  1751,  and  from 
1762  to  1766  was  in  partnership  with  Alexander  Duncan.  He  con- 
tinued to  reside  in  Wilmington  until  1758,  when  he  went  to  England 
and  Scotland,  where  he  obtained  his  restoration  to  the  council,  wrote 
his  pamphlet,  secured  from  the  Treasury  the  warrant  authoriz- 
ing the  payment  of  Governor  Johnston's  salary,  and  in  Scotland 
negotiated  a  loan  of  £7440  with  the  aid  of  John  Murray  of 
Philiphaugh  and  another  Scottish  friend,  who  guaranteed  the  loan 

*  On  September  i,  1767,  Laurens  wrote  to  Rutherfurd :  "Yesterday  I  called 
upon  Mr.  Saxby  and  received  from  him  the  sum  of  three  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty-seven  pounds  of  this  currency,  equal  to  four  hundred  and 
fifty-one  pounds  sterling,  on  account  of  the  king's  warrant,"  and  after  stating 
that  he  could  obtain  no  more  at  the  time,  adds :  "I  must  be  content  to  receive 
balances  from  him  just  when  and  in  such  quantities  as  he  shall  be  pleased 
to  pay  to  me.  Mr.  Saxby  asked  me  what  you  intended  to  do  further  in  this 
affair  and  hoped  you  would  not  'start'  before  him  in  any  representation  on 
the  other  side  of  the  water,  adding  that  he  would  forfeit  his  head  if  you 
received  the  balance  due  on  the  warrant  in  ten  years  to  come.  I  answered  that 
I  knew  your  generosity  and  would  be  surety  that  you  would  take  no  unfair 
advantages,  etc."  (Laurens  Letter  Book,  1767-1771,  pp.  3-4). 


296     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

with  the  royal  warrant  as  security.  Returning  in  1761,  he  and  his 
wife,  with  the  money  thus  borrowed  and  other  funds  obtained  from 
the  sale  of  some  of  their  Wilmington  property,  purchased  of  Maurice 
Moore,  on  December  l,  a  plantation  of  1920  acres  at  Rocky  Point  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Northeast  beyond  the  bend,  and  removed  from 
Wilmington  to  reside  in  the  country.  He  named  the  plantation  "Bow- 
land,"  and  with  this  and  other  landed  property,  some  of  which  he 
acquired  in  1766  (the  Rockfish  lands)  and  in  1768  (the  Western 
Prong  lands),  he  became,  as  Henry  Laurens  called  him  in  1767,  a 
man  "of  a  good  fortune."  He  retained  lands  in  Wilmington,  had  a 
tar  house  on  Eagles  Island  before  1769,  and  in  1768  petitioned  for 
permission  to  erect  a  public  grist  mill  on  an  acre  adjoining  Rockfish 
Creek  opposite  the  Holly  Shelter  "pocosin." 

He  was  living  at  "Rowland"  in  September,  1768,  but  in  that  year 
his  financial  troubles  began.  His  wife,  the  executrix  under  Governor 
Johnston's  will,  having  died  some  months  before,  John  Murray 
of  Philiphaugh  became  alarmed  for  his  security.  Rutherfurd  had 
paid  £4000  of  the  £7440  due,  but  seemingly  was  unable  to  pay  the 
remainder.  Willing  and  desirous  of  giving  further  indemnification, 
for  Murray  was  meeting  the  interest  on  the  bonds,  he  handed  over  to 
Robert  Schaw  as  trustee  his  entire  property,  including  his  £1000 
legacy  from  Duncan  and  a  proportion  of  the  debts  due  the  firm  of 
Duncan  &  Rutherfurd,  for  the  purpose  of  discharging  the  debt  and 
avoiding  a  suit  in  chancery.  But  this  arrangement  failed  to  satisfy 
Murray,  who  in  January,  1771,  brought  suit  before  the  North  Caro- 
lina court  of  chancery,  sitting  at.  New  Bern.  The  matter  was  referred 
to  Governor  Tryon  for  arbitration  who  decided  in  Murray's  favor 
and  the  court  confirmed  his  decision.  Rutherfurd  handed  over  to 
Murray  in  fee  simple  ownership  his  Western  Prong  lands  in  Bladen 
county  (4320  acres),  "Bowland"  (1920  acres),  his  Sound  lands  (320 
acres),  and  his  Wilmington  real  estate  (168  acres),  valued  altogether 
at  £4300  proclamation  money  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  F.  95- 
102,  327-329).  Of  this  transaction  his  son  John  said,  in  1788:  "Our 
father  had  nothing.  John  Murray  of  Philiphaugh  stript  him  of 
everything  when  he  went  out  to  Carolina,  except  the  property  which 
my  mother  brought  him,  which  was  secured  to  her  by  her  marriage 
settlement*  and  again  secured  to  us  by  decree  in  chancery,  when  John 
Murray  wanted  to  seize  upon  it  as  our  father's  property."  In  1774 
Governor  Martin  spoke  of  Rutherfurd  as  "bankrupt  in  point  of  for- 

*  The  terms  of  this  settlement  may  be  found  in  the  register's  office,  Wil- 
mington, Conveyances,  F,  3-4. 


APPENDICES  297 

tune,"  and  we  know  that  the  year  before  Rutherfurd  had  written  to 
William  Adair  in  London  expressing  his  desire  to  leave  the  colony 
and  asking  that  Mr.  Abercrombie,  the  former  agent,  be  requested  to 
inform  him  "if  he  hears  of  any  good  office  at  the  Boards  of  Treasury, 
Trade  or  Auditor's  office."  "At  present,"  he  adds,  "Mr.  McCulloh 
is  agent,  but  as  he  probably  is  to  be  dropped  soon  I  have  no  objection 
to  being  agent  but  do  not  wish  to  be  obliged  to  him  for  any  good 
office"  (Letter  to  William  Adair,  Pall  Mall,  dated  Newbern,  March 
26,  1773,  Phillips  Manuscripts). 

But  Rutherfurd  did  not  leave  the  province.  If  Martin,  writing  on 
April  6,  less  than  a  year  before  Miss  Schaw's  arrival,  is  correct  in  his 
statements,  then  Rutherfurd  must  have  recovered  very  rapidly  from 
his  financial  troubles,  for  in  the  spring  of  1775,  when  Miss  Schaw 
visited  his  plantation,  he  was  controlling  "Hunthill,"  an  estate  of 
more  than  4000  acres,  lying  between  the  Bald  Sand  Hills,  adjoining 
New  Exeter,  on  Holly  Shelter  Creek,  ten  miles  from  Rocky  Point  and 
thirty  miles  from  Wilmington.  "I  have  been  at  a  fine  plantation," 
she  writes,  "called  Hunthill,  belonging  to  Mr.  Rutherfurd,  [on  which] 
he  has  a  vast  number  of  negroes  employed  in  various  works.  He 
makes  a  great  deal  of  tar  and  turpentine,  but  his  grand  work  is  a 
sawmill,  the  finest  I  ever  met  with."  Miss  Schaw's  description  is  not 
exaggerated.  The  property  had  been  bought  for  £2000  of  Sampson 
Moseley  in  1772,  through  D'Arcy  Fowler,  attorney  at  law  of  Wil- 
mington and  later  a  loyalist,  and  plats  of  it  may  be  found  today  in 
the  Wilmington  records  and  among  the  manuscripts  at  Raleigh.  It 
was  a  fine  estate,  though  only  in  part  cleared  and  developed.  Accord- 
ing to  the  testimony  of  John,  Jr.,  and  Samuel  Graham,  in  charge  of 
the  forge,  there  were  150  slaves,  many  of  whom  were  valuable  trades- 
men, more  than  300  acres  of  land  cleared  and  planted  with  corn  and 
other  grains,  a  valuable  sawmill  and  smith's  forge  for  the  iron 
work,  and  room,  timber,  and  water  enough  for  two  more  sawmills, 
cutting  20,000  feet  of  lumber  a  week.  There  were  also  teams  of 
twenty  oxen,  one  hundred  and  fifty  head  of  cattle,  horses,  hogs,  and 
sheep,  and  a  great  deal  of  valuable  furniture  and  many  plantation 
implements.  The  whole  estate  furnished  in  1781  enough  to  make 
several  thousand  barrels  of  pitch,  tar,  and  turpentine  for  British 
markets  and  a  great  quantity  of  shingles  for  the  West  Indies.  If 
Rutherfurd  was  bankrupt  in  April,  1774,  and  in  possession  of  this 
property  at  least  as  early  as  September,  1774,  when  Graham  says 
that  he  was  first  employed  there,  it  is  evident  that  he  must  have 
bought  it  with  his  children's  money — probably  the  £1780  obtained 


298     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

from  the  sale  of  Conahoe  and  Possum  Quarter  (plantations  in  Tyrrell 
and  Granville  counties  which  had  been  left  to  his  wife  by  Governor 
Johnston),  and  have  held  it  in  trust  for  them.  He  may  have  used 
also  some  of  the  arrears  of  Johnston's  salary,  which  belonged  to  them 
as  their  mother's  heirs ;  he  may  have  been  aided  by  Mrs.  Corbin,  for 
in  her  will  she  speaks  of  debts  incurred  and  negroes  loaned,  of  which 
Rutherfurd  was  to  make  no  accounting;  and  he  may  have  used  the 
money  left  by  Duncan  and  the  debts  due  him  as  a  member  of  the 
firm,  for  these  do  not  appear  to  have  been  handed  over  to  Murray 
in  the  final  settlement.  From  a  later  indenture  we  learn  that  the 
property  was  bought  in  trust  for  the  two  boys  until  they  should  attain 
the  age  of  twenty-one  years  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  F,  14- 

15;  H,  i97-!99;  p»  152'155)- 

Rutherfurd,  according  to  his  son's  statement,  "having  done  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  suppress  the  distractions  in  North  Carolina, 
before  the  arrival  of  his  Majesty's  troops,  took  the  first  opportunity 
of  joining  Lord  Cornwallis.  When  the  troops  were  withdrawn  [from 
North  Carolina,  after  the  battle  of  Yorktown],  he  was  under  the 
necessity  of  embarking  with  them  for  Charles  Town  for  the  protec- 
tion of  his  person  from  the  resentment  which  his  loyalty  had  stirred 
up  against  him,  augmented  by  the  discovery  of  his  having  placed 
both  his  sons  in  his  Majesty's  service.  Of  the  negroes  [150]  belong- 
ing to  him  and  his  sons  in  their  own  right  he  could  only  carry  off  6 
for  want  of  room  in  the  transport."  All  the  negroes  which  remained 
behind,  the  lands,  mills,  horses,  cattle,  utensils,  and  furniture  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  and  Rutherfurd's  waiting  man, 
Sandy,  was  murdered  for  having  served  as  a  guide  in  Lord  Corn- 
wallis's  army.  Rutherfurd  remained  at  Charles  Town  until  what  little 
property  he  had  remaining  was  nearly  spent  and  his  health  and 
spirits  were  so  much  impaired  that  sometime  after  March,  1782,  he 
had  to  leave  America.  He  set  forth  on  a  vessel  bound  for  England, 
but  died  at  Cork,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  sometime  in  the  same  year  (Son's 
statement,  Audit  Office  Papers).  He  left  no  will. 

The  estimate  of  losses,  as  given  in  the  son's  memorial  of  March  23, 
1784  (Audit  Office,  Loyalists  Claims,  36,  pp.  339-354),  is  as  follows: 

To  attendance,  etc.,  for  running  the  boundary  line  be- 
tween S°  Carolina  and  N°  Carolina,  as  mentioned  in  the 
memorial  of  John  Rutherfurd  [Sr.  to  the  Treasury]       .     £    562.  2 
To  balance  due  on  the  royal  warrant     .      .      .      .  •   .        2018.19 
Lands,  slaves,  plantation  utensils  and  cattle  valued  by 
order  of  the  prevailing  persons  in  N°  Carolina  in  1779  at 


APPENDICES  299 


£36,842.18  that  currency,  which  reduced  to  sterling  makes 
£21,052.14,  and  which  in  the  year  1777  £979-5  taxes  were 
paid.  [This  item  probably  covers  both  the  Corbin  lands 
and  "Hunthill"] 21,052.14 


23,633.14 

The  effort  of  the  children  to  obtain  in  part  a  restitution  of  this 
property  is  dealt  with  in  Appendix  X. 


IX.  The  Rutherf  urd  Children. 

ACCOMPANYING  Miss  Schaw  to  America  were  the  three  chil- 
dren of  John  Rutherfurd — Frances  or  Fanny,  John,  Jr.,  and  Wil- 
liam Gordon.  Their  father,  as  we  know,  was  of  the  Scottish  family 
of  Rutherfurd  of  "Rowland,"  and  their  mother,  Frances  (see  Appen- 
dix VIII),  was  the  widow  of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  of  North 
Carolina,  whom  Rutherfurd  had  married  in  1754.  They  were  all  born 
in  North  Carolina  and  lived  there,  probably  at  Rutherfurd's  planta- 
tion, "Rowland,"  at  Rocky  Point  on  the  Northeast  branch,  until  after 
the  death  of  their  mother  in  1768,  when  their  father  sent  them  back  to 
Scotland  to  be  educated.*  As  Rutherfurd  was  unable  to  leave  the 
colony  on  account  of  his  official  duties  (since  except  for  one  visit  in 
the  years  from  1758  to  1761  he  never  saw  Scotland  after  he  left  it 
sometime  before  1735),  he  was  obliged  to  entrust  the  children  to  the 
care  of  friends,  and  apparently  placed  them  in  charge  of  Alexander 
Duncan,  a  partner  of  his  in  business  at  Wilmington,  who  crossed 
the  ocean  at  this  time.  Duncan  was  an  intimate  friend  of  both  the 
Rutherfurds  and  the  Schaws,  was  a  Scotsman  from  Edinburgh,  and 
in  his  will,  made  just  before  he  sailed,  left  money  to  both  Rutherfurd 
and  his  daughter,  to  the  latter  "in  case  she  returns  to  this  province 
and  marries  here."  Duncan  probably  took  the  children,  at  that  time 
aged  ten,  five,  and  two,  respectively,  with  him  to  Edinburgh  and 
placed  them  in  the  hands  either  of  Rutherfurd's  relatives  or  of  Miss 

*  In  the  letter  to  William  Adair  of  Pall  Mall,  March  26,  1773,  Rutherfurd 
speaks  of  "my  young  family  now  on  your  side  of  the  water  for  their  educa- 
tion." 


300     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Schaw,  wherever  she  may  have  been  living.  The  Rutherfurds  and 
Schaws  were  closely  connected  by  marriage,  for  Janet's  father  had 
married  Rutherfurd's  aunt,  and  her  brother,  Robert,  had  married  his 
eldest  sister,  Anne,  so  that  it  would  have  been  natural  enough  for 
Duncan  to  have  done  either,  though  the  probabilities  are  in  favor  of 
Miss  Schaw.  Rutherfurd's  father  had  died  in  1747,  and  his  family 
was  scattered:  Thomas  and  James,  his  brothers,  and  Anne  and  Bar- 
bara, his  sisters,  were  in  North  Carolina,  and  "Rowland,"  the  Ruther- 
furd  estate  in  Scotland,  had  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  family. 
The  children  of  John  Rutherfurd  remained  in  Scotland  until  the 
voyage  of  1774, — Fanny  at  boarding  school,  probably  in  Edinburgh, 
— when  Rutherfurd,  having  decided  to  stay  in  North  Carolina,  and 
with  the  aid  of  his  children's  money  having  acquired  a  new  planta- 
tion, "Hunthill,"  some  thirty  miles  from  Wilmington,  wished  them 
to  return  to  the  province. 

Owing  to  unexpected  circumstances  connected  with  the  outbreak  of 
the  Revolution  in  North  Carolina,  the  children,  instead  of  remaining 
with  their  father,  returned  to  Scotland  with  Miss  Schaw.  Soon  after, 
the  boys,  at  this  time  thirteen  and  ten  years  old,  were  placed  in  a  free 
school  in  England  under  the  protection  of  Lord  Townshend,  an 
arrangement  having  been  entered  into  in  1768,  according  to  which  the 
profits  from  the  negroes  left  by  the  father  and  mother  were  to  be  used 
during  the  father's  lifetime  to  provide  for  their  education.  But  in  the 
sequel  this  arrangement  was  found  to  be  inoperative,  and  the  money 
actually  used  for  the  boys'  education  was  £700  from  the  Corbin  estate 
(originally  from  Mrs.  Corbin's  first  husband,  Colonel  James  Innes), 
which  had  been  for  many  years  in  the  hands  of  Governor  Dinwiddie, 
an  intimate  friend  of  Innes's  and  lieutenant  governor  of  Virginia 
from  1751  to  1758. 

When  the  war  of  the  Revolution  came  on,  Rutherfurd  incurred 
considerable  ill-will  in  North  Carolina  by  entering  both  boys  in  the 
British  service,  one  in  the  army  and  the  other  in  the  navy.  John 
joined  the  corps  of  engineers,  became  a  practitioner  engineer  and 
second  lieutenant  in  1781,  a  first  lieutenant  in  1790,  a  captain  in 
1795,  an  assistant  quartermaster  general  at  Plymouth  Dock  in  1799, 
a  major  commandant  of  a  corps  attached  to  the  quartermaster  gen- 
eral's department  in  1800,  and  in  1805  a  lieutenant  colonel.  For  a 
time  he  was  stationed  at  Gibraltar,  later  at  New  Brunswick  and 
Jamaica,  and  in  1805  was  surveyor-general  of  the  island  of  Trinidad. 
Soon  after  that  date  he  was  placed  on  the  half  pay  list  as  of  the 
Royal  Staff  Corps,  was  secretary  at  Gibraltar  in  1810,  and  died  some- 


APPENDICES  301 

time  between  February,  1816,  and  March,  1817.  After  the  close  of 
the  Revolutionary  War,  he  several  times  obtained  leave  of  absence 
from  the  army,  and  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  an  effort  to  obtain  a  resti- 
tution of  the  family  property  in  North  Carolina.  He  visited  Charles- 
ton, made  three  trips  to  Wilmington,  and  lived  for  a  while  in  New 
York,  where  he  may  have  been  entertained  by  his  relative,  Walter 
Rutherfurd,  with  whom  he  had  financial  dealings,*  either  at  his  New 
York  house,  next  St.  Paul's  Church,  or  at  his  estate  at  Boiling  Springs, 
now  Rutherford,  New  Jersey,  which  he  had  called  "Edgerston"  after 
his  old  home  in  Scotland.f  For  more  than  twenty-five  years  John 
labored  to  secure,  for  himself  and  his  brother  and  sister,  the  value  of 
the  land  and  the  negroes.  He  was  probably  never  married. 

"Little  Billie"  had  a  more  distinguished  career.  In  1778  he  became 
a  "Boy  A  B"  and  midshipman  on  H.  M.  S.  Suffolk,  stationed  in  the 
Channel,  and  there  served  until  the  end  of  the  war.  According  to  his 
brother's  account,  he  was  turned  adrift  in  1783,  entered  the  merchant 
marine,  and  served  as  fourth  mate  of  an  Indiaman  from  1783  to 
1789.  In  1787  he  was  in  the  East  in  Indian  waters,  but  in  1789  was 
back  in  London,  living  at  Cornhill.  Soon  after,  he  entered  the  royal 
navy  again,  finished  his  time  as  midshipman  on  various  guardships, 
and  in  1794  became  acting  lieutenant  on  the  Boyne,  in  the  West  Indies 
with  Sir  John  Jervis,  afterwards  Admiral  Earl  St.  Vincent.J  He  rose 
rapidly  in  rank.  In  July  of  the  same  year  he  was  commissioned  com- 
mander, first  of  the  Nautilus,  and  then  of  the  Adventure,  and  in  No- 
vember was  appointed  post  captain  of  the  Dictator.  In  1799  he  was 
transferred  to  the  Brunswick,  then  to  the  Decade,  remaining  with  the 
latter  in  the  West  Indies,  the  Channel,  and  the  Mediterranean  as 
senior  frigate  captain  under  Admiral  Lord  Nelson,  until  May,  i8c>5.|| 
At  that  time  he  became  acting  captain  of  the  Swiftsure,  a  new  third- 
rate  seventy-four,  and  at  Nelson's  express  wish  was  given  permanent 
command  in  July.  In  charge  of  this  vessel  he  took  part  in  Nelson's 

*  Walter  Rutherfurd  loaned  John  Rutherfurd,  Jr.,  $2000,  on  November 
9,  1790,  and  took  as  his  security  a  mortgage  on  half  the  North  Carolina  lands 
(Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  Y,  259-262).  John  was  in  New  York  at  the 
time. 

t  In  Family  Records  and  Events,  by  Livingston  Rutherfurd,  p.  122, 
"Edgerston  Manor"  is  stated  to  have  been  located  in  Hunterdon  county. 

$  For  the  career  of  the  Boyne,  see  Anson,  Life  of  John  Jervis,  Admiral 
St.  Vincent,  pp.  88-107.  Rutherfurd's  appointment  is  dated  January  9,  1794. 

||  There  are  many  letters  of  this  period  from  Captain  Rutherfurd  to  Evan 
Nepean,  secretary  to  the  Admiralty  Board,  among  the  Admiralty  Papers  in 
the  Public  Record  Office  (Admiralty  1:2398-2408),  but  they  throw  little 
light  on  his  personal  affairs. 


302     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

famous  pursuit  of  Villeneuve's  fleet — the  Toulon  fleet — which  had 
sailed  for  the  West  Indies  in  the  summer  of  1805,  m  order  to  draw 
the  British  admiral  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  Channel,  to  cross 
which  for  the  invasion  of  England  Napoleon  was  waiting  at  Bou- 
logne. While  on  his  return  from  the  West  Indies,  Captain  Ruther- 
furd  wrote  the  following  letter. 

Swiftsure  at  Sea,  August  4th,  1805 
My  dear  John: 

I  write  this  at  sea  to  go  to  you  when  an  opportunity  offers.  When 
we  go  into  harbour  we  are  so  much  hurried  that  I  have  no  time  to 
write  to  anybody  except  Lilly  [his  wife].  Young  Millikin  came  to 
me  at  Gibraltar  last  month.  The  boy  has  had  a  long  hunt  after  me, 
as  he  left  Dublin  in  December  last.  Fifty  pounds  a  year  will  be  too 
much  for  him  for  some  time  to  come :  he  says  he  is  to  draw  for  money 
upon  Mr.  John  Batchelor,  27  William's  Street,  Dublin,  when  he 
wants  small  sums.  I  will  approve  his  drafts  upon  that  gentleman,  of 
which  I  will  thank  you  to  apprise  him.  I  am  sorry  that  I  could  do  but 
little  with  Allan  [not  the  young  Millikin  mentioned  above].  I  there- 
fore thought  it  best  for  him  to  leave  him  in  the  frigate  [the  Decade] 
with  Capt.  Stewart.  A  stranger  to  him  and  his  connections  may  per- 
haps make  him  do  better  than  I  could.  I  believe  the  frigate  is  left 
in  the  Mediterranean.  We  are  now  at  sea  with  Lord  Nelson,  and 
from  the  course  he  steers  I  think  we  are  going  to  England,  at  least 
I  hope  so ;  but  he  had  not  given  us  a  hint  of  where  we  are  going ; 
all  we  can  judge  is  by  the  course.  Perhaps  you  and  your  friends 
may  think  it  strange  my  leaving  the  frigate  for  a  seventy-four,  but 
circumstances  and  times  must  be  taken  into  account.  When  the  ship 
became  vacant,  I  was  senior  frigate  captain  with  Lord  Nelson.  He 
offered  me  this  ship  when  he  was  in  hot  pursuit  of  the  Toulon  fleet 
[January-August,  1805].  It  was  impossible  to  refuse  a  fine  new 
seventy-four  when  we  expected  to  be  in  action  with  the  French  fleet 
every  day.  If  the  admiralty  will  allow  me  to  keep  this  ship — and  I 
see  no  reason  why  they  should  not — the  post  is  certainly  a  more 
honourable  one  than  a  frigate;  and  I  think  prize-money  times  are 
almost  passed,  £500  a  year  in  this  ship  is  better  than  £200  in  the 
frigate.  What  a  chase  we  have  had  after  those  Toulon  fellows.  We 
have  been  in  the  West  Indies;  had  troops  embarked  at  Barbadoes, 
making  certain  the  French  were  attacking  Tobago  or  Trinidad.  We 
went  there,  but  no  French  were  there.  We  anchored  at  6  in  the  eve- 
ning at  Trinidad,  and  sailed  at  7  next  morning.  I  saw  nothing  of  my 
brother  John.  We  made  sure  they  were  attacking  Grenada,  but  when 
we  got  there  no  French  fleet  was  there.  We  then  went  to  Antigua, 
where  we  heard  the  French  fleet  had  passed  that  island  steering  to 
the  northward  five  days  before.  We  landed  the  troops  immediately, 


APPENDICES  303 


and  steered  back  for  the  Mediterranean.  When  we  arrived  at  Gibral- 
tar we  heard  no  account  of  the  French  fleet,  but  we  knew  they  had  not 
passed  that  way.  We  got  stores  and  water  as  fast  as  possible  and 
the  fifth  day  we  were  out  of  the  Straits  again,  and  I  now  hope  steering 
for  England.  Lord  Nelson,  I  believe,  is  generally  thought  to  be 
merely  a  fighting  man;  but  he  is  a  man  of  amazing  resource  and 
abilities,  more  so,  I  think,  than  even  Lord  Vincent.  I  am  afraid  the 
constant  anxiety  he  has  undergone  has  much  hurt  his  health.  The 
privations  this  little  fleet  of  eleven  sail  has  gone  through  has  been 
great;  but  it  has  been  with  cheerfulness,  because  Lord  Nelson  com- 
manded them.  All  our  ships  have  now  a  great  many  men  down  with 
the  scurvy,  which  makes  me  think  we  must  go  to  England.  If  you  do 
not  know  Lord  Nelson,  he  is  the  most  gentlemanlike,  mild,  pleasant 
creature  that  was  ever  seen.  Coming  from  the  West  Indies,  I  was 
upon  salt  beef  and  three  quarts  of  water  for  a  month.  We  had  no 
communication  from  the  islands  to  get  anything  either  to  eat  or  drink. 
Lord  James  is  my  mess-mate,  and  well  and  strong  and  good;  his 
time  as  mid[shipman]  will  be  out  in  October.  Tell  my  sister  [Fanny] 
George  Burt  [sic]  is  a  good  boy.  I  thought  you  would  like  to  hear 
the  history  of  this  fleet;  therefore  I  must  put  you  to  the  expense  of 
postage.  Love  to  all  at  home. 

Yours  very  truly, 

WM.  G.  RUTHERFURD. 

J.  C.  Beresford,  Esq.  Beresford  Place,  Dublin. 

[Has  been  posted  at]  Brixham  208,  August  30,  1805.* 

From  this  interesting  letter — interesting  not  only  for  the  light  it 
throws  on  "little  Billie's"  career  but  also  as  a  commentary  on  Nelson 
and  the  West  Indian  expedition  of  1805 — we  learn  several  important 
facts  that  open  up  a  new  phase  of  our  story.  John  was  stationed  at 
Trinidad,  Billie  was  married  and  his  wife  was  living  in  Dublin,  and 
Fanny  and  her  husband  had  removed  from  Plymouth  and  had  taken 
up  their  residence  in  the  same  city.  We  are  introduced  to  a  number  of 
new  characters — J.  C.  Beresford,  young  Millikin  (William  Fred- 
erick), and  Lord  James,  of  whom  Beresford  is  the  only  one  that  calls 
for  further  mention  and  something  will  be  said  of  him  later  on.  The 
preservation  of  this  letter,  amongst  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  a  gene- 
alogist's notes — a  letter  the  author  of  which  was  entirely  unknown 
to  the  writer  of  the  volume  in  which  it  is  printed — is  a  curious 
documentary  accident. 

From  the  letter  we  learn  that  Captain  Rutherfurd  was  married. 

*  The  Rutherfurds  of  that  Ilk  and  their  Cadets.  Edinburgh,  1884. 


304     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

This  event  took  place,  August  27,  1795,  at  St.  Margaret's,  Westmin- 
ster, and  the  bride  was  Lilias  or  Lillias  Richardson,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  late  Sir  George  Richardson,  Bart.,  of  Queen  Street  (Gentle- 
man's Magazine,  1795,  p.  789).  The  marriage  settlement  is  dated 
August  27th  of  that  year.  Lilias  died  sometime  before  1833  without 
issue,  but  there  appears  to  have  been  an  adopted  son,  John  Henry 
Defou,  of  whom  Rutherfurd  speaks  in  his  will,  "commonly  called 
Henry  Rutherfurd,  of  the  age  of  12  years,  usually  residing  with  me 
except  when  at  school"  (P.  C.  C.  431  Creswell).  Of  this  child  we 
know  nothing  more. 

Captain  Rutherfurd's  later  career  is  a  noteworthy  one.  As  captain 
of  the  Swiftsure  he  took  part  in  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  October  21, 
1805,  contributing  his  share  to  the  winning  of  the  great  victory  and 
escaping  with  but  little  loss — nine  men  killed  and  eight  wounded.  In 
the  official  list  of  the  battle  his  name  is  given  as  "William  George 
Rutherford"  and  identification  would  have  been  difficult  had  it  not 
been  for  the  discovery  of  his  letter,  his  will,  and  the  notice  of  his 
death.  He  remained  in  command  of  the  Swiftsure  until  his  discharge 
in  November,  1807,  when  he  was  placed  on  half  pay;  but  for  some 
reason,  ten  days  after  his  discharge,  he  was  appointed  captain  of  the 
Sea  Fencibles,  a  position  that  he  retained  until  February,  1810,  when 
he  was  again  placed  on  half  pay.  In  1815  he  was  made  a  Companion 
of  the  Bath  (on  the  enlargement  of  that  order)  and  the  next  year 
was  appointed  one  of  the  four  captains  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  a 
position  that  made  him  an  officer  of  the  house  in  residence,  at  a  salary 
of  £200  a  year  with  table  money.  Evidently  the  hardships  which  he 
had  undergone  told  upon  his  health,*  for  he  died  at  the  hospital 
in  1817  at  the  age  of  fifty-two.  Thus  "little  Billie,"  born  in  North 
Carolina,  stands  in  history  as  one  of  the  "heroes  of  Trafalgar."  In 
his  will  he  leaves  his  Trafalgar  sword  and  medal  to  his  nephew,  his 
sister's  son,  and  these  interesting  relics,  the  outward  marks  of  a  nota- 
ble career,  may  still  be  somewhere  in  existence.  That  Captain  Ruther- 
furd should  have  been  promoted  by  Nelson  himself  to  be  a  captain 
of  a  ship  of  the  line  was  a  rare  distinction.  Such  an  advancement  must 
have  come  as  a  reward  for  services  rendered,  probably  for  good  sea- 
manship and  personal  bravery.  North  Carolina  should  take  pride  in 
being  the  birthplace  of  so  noteworthy  a  man. 

Fanny,  who  in  some  ways  is  the  heroine  of  Miss  Schaw's  narrative, 
seems  to  have  been  an  attractive  girl  and  the  frequent  references  to 

*  In  a  letter  of  September  2,  1802,  he  speaks  of  his  own  health  as  "much 
impaired"  (Adm.  1:2405). 


APPENDICES  305 

her  arouse  our  interest  and  curiosity.  She  evidently  made  a  strong 
appeal  to  those  with  whom  she  came  into  contact  and  at  least  one  love 
affair  arose  during  her  residence  on  the  Cape  Fear  (above,  p.  183).  But 
she  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  February,  1776,  heart  free,  only  to  find 
a  husband  within  five  months  after  her  arrival.  In  September,  1776, 
she  was  married  at  Edinburgh  to  Archibald  Menzies  of  Culdairs,  one 
of  the  commissioners  of  the  customs  of  Scotland.  What  romance  or 
tragedy  lies  behind  the  bare  announcement  of  this  marriage,  we  do 
not  know.  Whether  it  was  a  love  match  or  a  mariage  de  convenance 
is  equally  concealed.  Menzies  held  an  important  official  post  to  which 
he  had  been  appointed  in  1774,  and  his  salary  of  £600  a  year  may 
have  been  an  attraction  to  the  family.  Fanny  was  certainly  "well 
married,"  as  a  contemporary  correspondent  wrote.  Whether  Menzies 
was  an  elderly  man  or  an  invalid  or  both,  we  cannot  say,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  Fanny's  happiness  was  short-lived,  for  her  husband  died 
at  Inveresk  in  October,  1777,  after  a  married  life  of  but  little  more 
than  a  year.  A  daughter  was  born  of  this  marriage,  Elizabeth  Mc- 
Kenzie  Menzies,  who  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  the  John  Claudius 
Beresford,*  to  whom  Captain  Rutherfurd  wrote  the  letter  cited  above. 
Where  Fanny,  with  her  daughter,  spent  the  days  of  her  young 
widowhood  we  do  not  know,  but  she  eventually  found  solace,  for 
sometime  in  1787 — the  marriage  settlement  is  dated  April  28th  of 
that  year — she  was  married  again,  and  this  time  to  her  companion  on 
the  voyage  to  America,  Janet's  brother,  Alexander  Schaw,  store- 

*  John  Claudius  Beresford  was  a  banker  of  Dublin,  doing  business,  in 
Beresford  Place  until  1810,  and,  as  Beresford  &  Co.,  in  Henry  Street  after 
that  date.  He  became  prominent  in  the  municipal  life  of  Dublin  about  1815, 
was  alderman  for  twenty-five  years,  and  served  his  term  as  lord  mayor.  He 
removed  from  Dublin  probably  soon  after  1841,  first  to  Coleraine,  then  to 
Port  Stewart,  and  finally  to  Glenamoyle,  Londonderry  county,  where  he 
died  July  2,  1846.  He  had  married  Fanny's  daughter  sometime  before  1805, 
but  she  died  before  1839  and  was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of  Coleraine. 
The  Beresfords  had  seven  children,  two  sons  and  five  daughters.  The  sons 
were  John  C.,  Jr.,  and  Archibald.  Of  the  daughters,  Catherine  married  one 
Smyley,  who  died  before  1847,  at  which  date  she  was  living  with  two  chil- 
dren, John  and  William,  at  Ramsey,  Isle  of  Man ;  Emily  married  in  1839 
George  Cairnes  (or  Henry  Moore  Cairnes ;  one  name  is  given  in  the  will  and 
the  other  in  a  codicil ;  perhaps  they  were  brothers)  and  was  at  first  dis- 
possessed by  her  father  for  having  "wantonly  and  foolishly  involved  him 
in  heavy  debts"  through  "foolish  extravagance" ;  but  she  was  later  restored 
to  favor  as  having  "already  been  sufficiently  punished  by  the  privations  she 
suffered  from  a  restricted  income."  The  other  daughters  were  Georgina,  Con- 
stantia,  and  Kitty  (Royal  Calendar,  passim;  Prerogative  Wills,  Public 
Record  Office,  Ireland). 


306     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

keeper  of  ordnance  on  the  gun  wharf  at  Plymouth,  serving  under  the 
War  Office  at  £140  a  year. 

Alexander  Schaw  was  a  younger  brother  of  Janet's  and  at  the  time 
of  the  journal  may  have  been  thirty  years  old.  We  are  told  that  he 
had  been  a  writer  in  Edinburgh,  who,  having  got  into  difficulties,  the 
nature  of  which  we  do  not  know,  decided  to  go  to  America  and  applied 
for  a  post  in  the  customs  service.  By  commission  of  March  31,  1774, 
he  received  the  office  of  searcher  of  customs  at  St.  Christopher.  After 
leaving  Antigua  in  January,  1775,  he  went  to  St.  Kitts  with  his 
sister  and  the  children,  but  did  not  remain,  having  obtained  permis- 
sion to  go  with  the  party  to  North  Carolina,  on  the  understanding 
that  he  would  return  as  soon  as  possible.  That  he  intended  to  do  this 
is  clear,  and  at  one  time  in  the  summer  of  1775  it  looked  as  if  he 
would  take  his  sister  and  the  children  back  from  North  Carolina  to 
St.  Kitts ;  but  events  over  which  he  had  no  control  brought  about  a 
complete  change  of  plan,  and  in  the  summer  of  1775  he  was  entrusted 
by  Gorernor  Martin,  at  that  time  on  board  the  Cruizer  in  the  Cape  Fear 
River,  with  despatches  for  Lord  Dartmouth.  He  consequently  returned 
to  England  by  way  of  Boston,  and  remained  there  during  the  winter, 
living  in  London.  On  March  6,  1776,  he  obtained  formal  leave  of 
absence  from  his  post  in  St.  Christopher,  and  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  he  never  saw  the  West  Indies  again.  As  an  Alexander 
Schaw  was  in  Canada  from  1778  to  1781,  employed  in  surveying 
stores  and  paying  corvees,  it  is  likely  that  he  went  to  Canada,  remain- 
ing there  until  his  return  to  England  to  fill  the  more  important  posi- 
tion of  storekeeper  at  Plymouth. 

At  Plymouth  Alexander  married  Fanny,  his  erstwhile  companion, 
who  had  called  him  "uncle"  on  the  voyage,  and  there  they  lived  until 
in  May  or  June,  1801,  they  removed  to  Dublin,  where  Alexander  had 
secured,  by  appointment  of  the  Board  of  Ordnance  (April  28,  1801), 
the  post  of  storekeeper,  an  office  which  with  the  additional  duties  of 
paymaster  of  salaries  and  allowances  brought  him  in  more  than  £500 
a  year  with  house  rent  and  candles.  From  the  Ordnance  records  we 
learn  that  in  preparing  for  removal  Alexander  objected  to  the  sloop 
at  first  provided,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  too  small,  and  asked  for  a 
brig,  which  was  granted.  After  his  arrival  in  Dublin  (June  30),  he 
wrote  the  board  that  his  furniture  and  packages  had  amounted  to 
sixteen  tons,  and  as  they  entirely  filled  the  vessel,  he  and  his  wife 
were  obliged  to  obtain  accommodation  from  one  Canforth  of  the 
Britannia  yacht  tender,  at  a  fee  of  ten  guineas  (War  Office,  Ordnance 
Book,  45 :  56  and  following  volumes) .  By  the  middle  of  the  summer 


APPENDICES  307 

of  1801  he  and  his  wife,  servants,  and  furniture  were  satisfactorily 
established  in  a  house  in  Dublin,  and  there  they  remained  until  some- 
time after  1805.  On  August  5,  1803,  Alexander  was  pensioned  as 
"superannuated"  by  the  board,  and  retired  on  an  allowance  of  £677 
a  year  (Irish  money),  but  continued  to  live  in  Dublin,  until  some- 
time before  1810,  when  he  removed  to  Inveresk,  Scotland.  In  Ireland 
he  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  Dublin  Society,  but  his  name  does 
not  appear  in  the  list  for  1810,  and  his  will,  which  was  made  at  In- 
veresk, November  22,  1810,  shows  that  he  was  residing  there  at  that 
time.  When  or  where  Fanny  died  we  do  not  certainly  know  but  it 
was  probably  in  Scotland.  From  her  brother's  letter  we  learn  that 
she  was  alive  and  living  in  Dublin  in  1805,  but  in  1810,  in  Alex- 
ander's will,  she  is  referred  to  as  "my  late  wife."  She  probably  died 
at  Inveresk  shortly  before,  aged  about  fifty-two  or  fifty-three.  Alex- 
ander died  in  1818. 

By  her  marriage  with  Alexander  Schaw,  Fanny  had  at  least  one 
child  and  probably  more.  Alexander  in  his  will  speaks  of  this  child, 
John  Sauchie  Schaw,  as  "my  son  and  only  surviving  child  of  the 
said  marriage."  When  this  son  was  born  is  not  quite  certain,  but  it 
must  have  been  some  years  after  the  marriage  in  1787,  as  he  was  not 
of  age  in  1810  and  was  not  married  until  1828.  In  1819  he  was  a  lieu- 
tenant of  artillery  in  Dublin,  and  on  March  14,  1828,  entered  into 
a  marriage  license  bond  of  £1000  on  the  occasion  of  his  marriage  with 
Catherine  Louisa  Sirr,  of  Dublin  Castle,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Darcy  Sirr.  He  was  living  at  the  time  at  Cullenswood,  Dublin  county. 
With  his  later  career  we  are  not  concerned. 


X.  The  Children's  Inheritance. 

IN  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  the  Rutherfurd  children,  at  their 
coming  of  age,  would  have  fallen  heirs  to  a  very  considerable  prop- 
erty from  their  father  and  mother  and  Mrs.  Jean  Corbin,  large 
enough  to  have  made  them  in  a  measure  financially  independent.  This 
inheritance  would  have  been  derived  from  three  sources. 

First,  from  their  mother,  who  received  from  the  estate  of  Governor 

,  Johnston,  her  second  husband,  (a)  two  plantations,  Possum  Quarter 

in  Granville  county  and  Conahoe  in  Tyrrell  county,  which  with  cer- 


308     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

tain  other  lands  constituted  her  share  of  the  Johnston  real  estate ;  (b) 
a  considerable  number  of  negroes;  and  (c)  a  fifth  share  in  the 
residuary  estate. 

Secondly,  from  their  father,  who  at  one  time  possessed  (a)  the 
extensive  lands  which  were  later  seized  by  John  Murray  of  Philip- 
haugh,  (b)  the  legacy  of  Alexander  Duncan  of  £1000,  (c)  his  share 
of  the  debts  due  the  firm  of  Duncan  &  Rutherfurd,  and  (d)  the  debt 
due  him  from  the  province  for  running  the  boundary  line  with  South 
Carolina.  This  property  had  probably  all  been  lost  before  1782,  for 
we  know  that  Rutherfurd  died  insolvent. 

Thirdly,  from  Mrs.  Corbin,  who  at  her  death  left  the  children  (a) 
certain  plantations  secured  to  her  under  the  terms  of  her  marriage 
settlement  with  Francis  Corbin,  (b)  a  considerable  number  of 
negroes,  and  (c)  a  certain  amount  of  personal  property,  stock,  uten- 
sils, etc.,  in  part  from  the  "Point  Pleasant"  plantation.  "Point  Pleas- 
ant" itself  was  not  included,  as  Mrs.  Corbin  had  only  a  life  interest 
in  that  estate  and  could  not  dispose  of  it  by  will. 

Owing  to  various  circumstances,  most  important  of  which  were 
Rutherfurd's  bankruptcy  and  the  confiscation  of  Loyalists'  estates 
during  the  Revolution,  this  inheritance  had  dwindled  by  the  year 
1783  to  relatively  slender  proportions,  and  at  that  time  the  recovery 
of  even  a  small  part  seemed  very  uncertain.  The  children  soon  found 
that  they  could  count  on  success  in  three  particulars  only:  (a)  the 
negroes,  originally  numbering  from  150  to  175  in  all,  (b)  the  arrears 
of  salary,  of  which,  in  1783,  £2018  remained  unpaid,  and  (c)  the 
plantation  "Hunthill,"  which  had  been  acquired  for  them  in  trust 
by  their  father  in  1772,  probably  from  money  obtained  in  part  from 
the  sale  of  Possum  Quarter  and  Conahoe  in  1768  (£1780)  and  in 
part  from  other  sources. 

It  is  not  necessary  or  possible  to  follow  in  all  details  the  early 
stages  in  the  history  of  the  recovery  of  these  properties.*  In  1784, 

*  At  this  time  the  children  were  obtaining  compensation  from  the  Ameri- 
can Loyalist  Claims  Commission.  On  March  16,  1782,  John  Rutherfurd,  Sr., 
when  in  Charles  Town  had  drawn  up  a  memorial  of  losses  addressed  to  Lord 
George  Germain,  but  died  before  he  was  able  to  deliver  it.  In  1784,  the  sons 
presented  this  memorial  with  another  of  their  own  and  in  consequence  of 
their  appeal  and  statement  of  losses  were  allowed  compensation  to  the 
amount  of  £500  a  year  (instead  of  £600  asked  for),  a  sum  that  was  later 
reduced  to  £50,  because,  as  the  decision  stated,  "they  had  obtained  a  restora- 
tion of  a  part  of  their  property  and  so  had  enough  to  live  on"  (Audit  Office 
Papers).  It  is  not  clear  just  what  property  is  here  referred  to.  Even  this 
allowance  of  £50  was  withdrawn  after  January  5,  1791  (Loyalist  Quarterly 
Pension  Books). 


APPENDICES  309 


John  Rutherfurd,  Jr.,  obtaining  leave  of  absence  from  his  duties 
at  Gibraltar,  went  to  North  Carolina,  "to  endeavor  (so  his  memorial 
states)  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  sanguinary  laws  and  resolves  against 
himself  and  his  family  and  in  hopes  of  recovering  some  part  of  the 
property  they  have  thereby  lost"  (Audit  Office  Papers,  American 
Loyalist  Claims,  36,  pp.  339-354).  At  first  the  children  employed  as 
their  attorneys  Alexander  Schaw,  Fanny's  husband,  and  Alexander 
Anderson,  a  lawyer  of  Princess  Street,  Lothbury,  London,  but  when 
John,  Jr.,  arrived  in  Wilmington  in  1784,  he  put  the  business  into 
the  hands  of  Archibald  Maclaine  and  George  Mackenzie,  and  at  a 
later  visit,  in  1786-1787,  into  those  of  John  London,  formerly  town 
clerk  of  Wilmington  and  an  influential  merchant  there.  London 
remained  the  children's  attorney  in  North  Carolina  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  In  his  diary,  written  in  1800,  he  says  under  date  June  2O, 
"Wrote  packet  to  Capt.  John  Rutherfurd  and  enclosed  Mr.  Ashe's 
letters  and  accounts  to  him  and  Capt.  W.  G.  Rutherfurd"  (North 
Carolina  Historical  Commission  MSS.),  and  we  know  that  he  and 
his  son,  John  R.  London,  were  still  acting  for  them  in  1814. 

The  first  attempt  made  was  to  recover  the  negroes.  In  1786,  John, 
Jr.,  given  power  of  attorney  by  his  sister  and  brother,  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  assembly  of  North  Carolina,  asking  for  the  restora- 
tion of  the  negroes  bequeathed  them  by  their  mother  and  Mrs.  Corbin 
(N.  C.  State  Records,  XVIII,  178),  which  had  been  hired  out  by 
the  sheriff  of  New  Hanover  county  at  a  money  wage.  The  committee 
to  which  this  memorial  was  referred  recommended  that  the  rights  of 
the  petitioners  be  recognized  and  that  the  negroes  be  returned.  The 
Senate  and  House  of  Commons  concurred  in  this  recommendation 
(ib.,  186-187,  !89»  417)  and  resolved,  December  31,  1787,  that  the 
sheriff  be  required  and  directed  "to  restore  to  John  Rutherfurd  the 
negro  slaves,  the  property  of  the  said  John  Rutherfurd,  William 
Gordon  Rutherfurd,  and  Frances  Menzies,  widow,  hired  out  by  order 
of  the  court  of  said  county,  together  with  such  monies  and  securities 
as  he  may  have  received  for  the  said  hire"  (ib.,  418).  As  the  result  of 
this  resolution,  the  children  were  enabled  to  sell  the  negroes  and  did 
so  at  the  first  opportunity.  George  Mackenzie  acted  as  agent,  agreeing 
to  find  purchasers  for  them  at  £40  apiece  before  January,  1791.  On 
March  12,  1788,  John  received  £960  for  his  share  and  signed  a  release 
(Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  I,  old  book,  8-9)  and  the  next  year, 
through  John  London  as  attorney,  Fanny  and  William  Gordon  re- 
ceived £890  (ib.,  L,  Pt.  i,  243).  The  number  of  negroes  thus  dis- 
posed of  was  fifty-seven.  Though  all  the  details  of  these  transactions 


310     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

are  not  available,  it  is  evident  that  the  fifty-seven  were  only  a  part  of 
those  eventually  recovered.  In  1812  John  London  sold  for  John  and 
William  Gordon  (Fanny  being  dead)  a  third  lot  (seven)  for  $1480 
and  a  fourth  lot  (twenty-three)  for  $4812  (ib.,  0, 368;  P,  152).  Thus 
as  far  as  our  record  shows  eighty-seven  negroes  were  sold  at  an 
approximate  return  to  the  children  of  $15,500,  without  reckoning  in 
anything  that  might  have  been  received  for  negro  hire. 

The  recovery  of  the  arrears  of  Governor  Johnston's  salary,  the 
most  important  part  of  his  residuary  estate,  proved  a  much  more 
difficult  and  litigious  matter,  and  ended  somewhat  unexpectedly  for 
the  children.  There  were  originally  four  beneficiaries  under  the  re- 
siduary clause  of  Johnston's  will :  the  wife,  Frances,  the  children's 
mother,  one-fifth;  Samuel,  the  brother,  two-fifths,  for  the  education 
of  his  family ;  a  sister,  Elizabeth,  and  her  heirs  in  Scotland,  one-fifth ; 
and  a  natural  son,  Henry,  one-fifth.  In  the  years  since  1752  many 
changes  had  taken  place.  Frances,  the  wife,  had  married  John  Ruther- 
furd  and  died  in  1768;  the  sister  Elizabeth  had  married  Robert  Fer- 
rier  in  Scotland,  but,  she  dying,  he  became  attorney  for  their  daugh- 
ters until  he  too  died  and  the  daughters  acted  for  themselves;  and 
Henry  Johnston  died  in  1772  and  left  his  share  to  Penelope,  his  half- 
sister,  who  later  married  John  Dawson.  More  than  £10,000  had 
already  been  paid  under  the  Treasury  warrant  of  1761,  but  of  its 
distribution  we  know  very  little.  We  do  know  that  Rutherfurd,  acting 
in  his  wife's  name  (she  was  sole  executrix  of  the  will),  received  be- 
fore her  death  a  larger  portion  than  she  was  entitled  to,  and  that 
consequently  soon  after  her  death  in  1768,  Samuel  Johnston,  not  lik- 
ing Rutherfurd's  management,  obtained  letters  of  administration, 
and  not  only  secured  for  himself  some  part  of  the  arrears,  but  was  able 
also  to  remit  to  others  a  portion  of  that  to  which  they  were  entitled. 
At  the  close  of  the  Revolution  the  amount  remaining  to  be  paid  was 
£2018. 

Soon  after  1783  application  was  made  to  the  Treasury  by  the 
heirs  in  England  for  the  payment  of  this  remainder,  but  the  Treas- 
ury officials  refused  to  comply  until  the  heirs  could  agree  on  a  plan 
of  distribution.  To  meet  this  requirement,  in  March,  1791,  the  Ruther- 
furd children  and  the  Ferriers,  father  and  daughters,  through  Alex- 
ander Anderson  as  attorney,  entered  into  an  agreement,  according  to 
which  each  was  to  follow  up  the  matter,  bearing  individually  his  or 
her  part  of  the  expense  and  furnishing  a  statement  of  what  each  had 
already  received.  Anderson  procured  letters  of  administration  (P.  C. 
C,  August  31,  1791)  and  with  these  documents  in  hand  obtained  from 


APPENDICES  311 

the  Treasury  the  desired  warrant,  September  5,  1791.  Having  re- 
ceived the  money,  he  carried  out  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  investing 
£1850  of  the  £2018  in  three  per  cent  consolidated  bank  annuities 
and  stock  and  turning  over  the  remainder  to  Robert  Ferrier  and 
W.  G.  Rutherfurd,  representing  their  respective  heirs.  Terrier  died 
at  this  juncture,  and  his  daughters,  dissatisfied  with  Anderson's  con- 
duct in  the  case,  employed  another  lawyer,  secured  new  letters  of 
administration,  and  in  1795,  sued  Anderson  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  at  Westminster,  Easter  Term.  Anderson  in  reply  charged  them 
with  breaking  the  agreement  and  filed  a  bill  in  the  Court  of  Excheq- 
uer. The  object  of  these  suits  was  to  obtain  control  of  the  money 
invested  in  consols  with  the  accruing  dividends. 

The  situation  now  became  so  involved  and  threatened  to  be  so 
expensive  that  the  contestants  agreed  to  submit  the  dispute  to  arbitra- 
tion and  selected  two  London  merchants,  Robert  Barnewell  and 
Henry  Smith  as  arbitrators.  Under  the  terms  of  the  new  agreement, 
each  party  was  to  pay  all  legal  expenses  hitherto  incurred  and  to 
submit  without  demur  to  the  decision  of  the  board.  All  living  within 
twenty  miles  of  London  were  to  be  examined  personally  under  oath 
and  all  living  farther  away  were  to  make  depositions  on  oath  before 
a  local  justice  of  the  peace.  The  examinations  occupied  two  years. 
The  arbitrators  questioned  the  parties,  investigated  books,  papers, 
vouchers,  and  other  documents,  scrutinized  the  accounts  presented  by 
the  different  persons,  and  endeavored  to  ascertain  what  each  heir 
had  already  received.  Captain  William  Gordon  Rutherfurd  seems 
to  have  conducted  the  business  for  his  brother  and  sister,  as  between 
April,  1797,  and  February,  1799,  he  was  absent  from  his  ship  on 
leave,  a  fact  demonstrated  by  a  complete  lacuna  in  his  correspondence 
with  the  Admiralty  during  that  period.  It  was  not  until  the  latter  date 
that  with  "his  private  affairs  settled"  he  announced  himself  ready  to 
join  the  Brunswick  at  Jamaica  or  to  continue  in  any  other  way  his 
naval  service  (Adm.  1 : 2400-2402.  There  is  not  a  single  letter  from 
him  in  volume  2401). 

The  arbitrators  finally  rendered  their  award,  July  10,  1798.  All 
lawsuits  were  to  be  stayed;  the  Anderson  estate  (Anderson  himself 
having  died  in  the  meantime)  was  to  return  to  the  heirs  £57 ;  and 
the  amount  in  dispute,  £1850  in  three  per  cent  consols  with  £627  in 
dividends,  was  to  be  distributed  to  the  heirs.  But  in  this  distribution 
the  Rutherfurds  were  to  have  no  share,  for  the  arbitrators  decided 
that  Frances  Rutherfurd,  as  executrix  (through  John  Rutherfurd 
acting  in  her  name),  had  already  received  £654  more  than  was  her 


312     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

due  and  that  the  Rutherfurd  heirs  owed  the  Johnston  estate  that 
amount  (less  one-fifth  on  account  of  Henry  Johnston).  Consequently 
they  were  to  receive  nothing  until  the  other  heirs  had  been  paid  their 
shares  in  full.  As  four  shares  of  £524  each  would  not  exhaust  the 
principal  sum,  it  is  possible,  though  very  unlikely,  that  the  children 
eventually  received  some  small  amount  from  this  source.* 

There  still  remained  to  be  recovered  the  real  estate  in  North  Caro- 
lina, consisting  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  of  the  "Hunthill"  lands.  These 
lands  had  been  confiscated  during  the  Revolution  and  a  part  had  been 
regranted  by  patent  from  the  state.  We  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
any  formal  act  or  resolution  restoring  these  lands  to  the  children,  as 
was  the  case  with  the  negroes,  or  any  court  decision  under  the  act  of 
1786  (N.  C.  State  Records,  XXIV,  795),  but  it  is  clear  that  in 'the 
case  of  the  "Hunthill"  property  the  decree  of  confiscation  was  in  some 
way  reversed.  In  1811  one  Israel  Judge  restored  to  John  London, 
acting  in  the  boys'  behalf  (Fanny  being  dead),  a  portion  of  "Hunt- 
hill,"  which  he  had  obtained  under  a  state  title,  for  the  nominal  con- 
sideration of  £5  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  P,  154)  and  in  1814 
London  sold  to  one  Ezekiel  Lane,  for  the  sum  of  $2700,  which  he 
transmitted  to  the  boys,  this  tract  and  other  tracts  making  up  the 
"Hunthill"  property  of  4084  acres,  which  had  been  bought  by  John 
Rutherfurd  of  Sampson  Moseley  in  1772,  in  trust  for  the  children  (ib., 
P,  155-156).  In  so  doing  London  brought  to  an  end  a  long  period  of 
service  in  the  interest  of  the  Rutherfurd  family,  during  which  he  had 
been  largely  instrumental  in  recovering  for  the  surviving  members 
property  that  they  were  able  to  sell  for  nearly  $20,000.  The  chil- 
dren's fight  for  their  inheritance  was  long  and  costly  and  the  per- 

*  The  above  account  of  the  controversy  over  the  arrears  of  Johnston's 
salary  is  based  in  large  part  upon  the  text  of  the  award,  contained  in  a 
document  now  in  private  hands.  The  controversy  itself  throws  light  on 
Rutherfurd's  business  methods  and  is  interesting  as  showing  that  the  John- 
ston estate  was  not  finally  settled  for  nearly  half  a  century  after  the  gover- 
nor's death. 

In  McRee's  Life  of  Iredell  is  printed  a  reference  to  this  award  in  a  letter 
from  Samuel  Johnston  to  Iredell,  as  follows,  "By  the  last  packet  I  received 
a  letter  from  our  cousin,  James  Ferrier,  dated  Nov.,  1798.  He  is  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  Major  General  in  the  army.  He  informs  me  that  the  dispute 
between  my  uncle's  legatees  and  Mr.  Rutherfurd's  children  had  been  left  to 
arbitration — to  two  merchants  of  London,  who  had  awarded  that  they  had 
received  considerably  more  than  their  share  of  our  uncle's  legacy  and  effects ; 
and  that  the  moneys  in  the  hands  of  Anderson's  executors  (including  what 
was  received  in  England)  should  be  divided  among  the  other  legatees." 
II,  545- 


APPENDICES  313 

sistence  with  which  they  pursued  the  struggle  to  the  end  deserves  our 
admiration.  Fanny  did  not  live  to  see  the  final  success,  and  the  others, 
including  Alexander  Schaw,  who  had  some  share  in  the  business, 
lived  but  a  short  time  after  the  last  transaction  was  completed.  The 
shadow  of  this  great  expectation,  long  deferred  and  never  more  than 
in  part  fulfilled,  hung  over  them  for  the  greater  part  of  their  lives. 


XL  A  Group  of  Provincial  Leaders. 

IN  studying  the  social  and  political  history  of  North  Carolina  one  is 
constantly  impressed  with  the  close  connection  that  existed  between 
South  Carolina  and  the  Cape  Fear  section  of  North  Carolina,  and 
with  the  frequent  intermarriages  that  took  place  among  the  members 
of  a  large  group  of  intimately  associated  families.  The  widely  spread- 
ing branches  of  one  genealogical  tree  include  names  from  the  families 
of  Wright,  Rhett,  Trott,  Izard,  Hasell,  Smith,  Moore,  Quince,  Dry, 
Eagles,  Allen,  Grainger,  Howe,  and  others,  many  of  whom  came 
originally  from  the  southern  colony.  Representative  men  from  these 
families  formed  a  strongly  united  provincial  group,  that  stood  at 
times  in  outspoken  opposition  to  those  in  the  colony  who  were  of 
English  or  Scottish  birth — Johnston,  Murray,  Corbin,  Innes,  Ruther- 
furd,  and  Schaw,  newcomers  and  "foreigners."  Though  no  fixed 
lines  of  cleavage  can  be  drawn,  and  though  the  antagonisms  were 
manifest  only  at  certain  times  and  in  connection  with  certain  trouble- 
some provincial  problems,  nevertheless  the  feeling  was  always  latent, 
notably  between  the  Brunswick  group  led  by  Moore  and  Dry  and 
those  who  were  the  friends  and  followers  of  Governor  Johnston.  The 
quarrels  over  the  blank  patents  and  the  town  of  Wilmington  are 
well  known  (N.  C.  R.  IV,  v-vi)  and  Murray  facetiously  referred  to 
the  situation  when  he  spoke  of  "a  Dryness"  subsisting  "between  some 
certain  gentlemen  and  me  until  the  unhappy  differences  of  the  prov- 
ince are  reconciled"  (Letters  of  James  Murray,  Loyalist,  p.  42). 

Miss  Schaw  mentions  only  a  few  of  the  leaders  of  the  provincial 
party,  but  they  play  a  sufficiently  important  part  in  the  narrative  to 
call  for  brief  mention  here. 


314     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Richard  Quince. 

Richard  Quince,  the  elder,  the  father  of  Parker  and  Richard,  Jr., 
was  one  of  the  leading  merchants  and  traders  of  the  colony,  doing 
business  at  Brunswick  under  the  firm  name  of  Richard  Quince  & 
Sons ;  which  later  became  Parker  Quince  &  Co.,  doing  a  considerable 
up-river  business.  He  was  at  one  time  or  another  a  commissioner  of 
the  town  of  Brunswick,  chairman  of  the  inferior  court  of  pleas  and 
quarter  sessions  of  Brunswick  county,  a  church  warden  of  St.  Philip's, 
a  judge  of  vice-admiralty,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  a  member  of  the 
Wilmington  Committee  of  Public  Safety,  and,  with  his  son  Richard, 
a  member  of  the  general  committee  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  He  was  an 
active  participant  in  the  Revolution,  died  in  1778,  and  was  buried  in 
the  churchyard  of  St.  Philip's,  Brunswick.  He  was  originally  from 
Ramsgate,  England,  where  he  had  a  brother  John  (who  apparently 
before  1768  came  to  Wilmington  and  set  up  as  a  merchant  there), 
and  where  he  owned  a  house,  which  he  retained  during  his  lifetime. 
He  was  also  a  freeman  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  of  which  in  1741  "he 
produced  a  sufficient  testimony"  and  was  therefore  excused  from  jury 
duty  (Brunswick  County  Court  Records,  1737-1741,  p.  133).  He 
lived  first  at  "Orton"  plantation  and  later  at  "Rose  Hill"  on  the 
Northeast,  a  plantation  that  he  left  to  his  son  Parker.  The  latter  and 
his  brother  Richard  are  said  to  have  been  "gentlemen  of  great  respect- 
ability and  devoted  Whigs,  but  quiet  and  unobtrusive  in  their  charac- 
ters and  never  mingled  in  public  life." 

William  Dry. 

William  Dry,  the  collector,  was  fourth  in  descent  from  Robert  Dry, 
or  Drye,  who  settled  in  South  Carolina  about  1680,  and  his  grand- 
father, father,  and  himself  all  bore  the  same  name.  William  Dry,  1st, 
married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Blake,  brother  of  the 
famous  English  admiral,  Robert  Blake  {South  Carolina  Historical 
and  Genealogical  Magazine,  V,  109,  note  6),  and  died  about  the  year 
1700.  He  was  a  planter  of  influence  and  property  and  owned  a  planta- 
tion, "Oak  Grove,"  next  north  of  the  present  site  of  the  navy  yard, 
Charleston,  which  he  inherited  from  his  father  and  which  he  left  to 
his  son  (ib.,  XIX,  60-61).  The  latter,  William  Dry,  2d,  was  one  of 
the  original  grantees  of  lots  in  Beaufort  Town  and  acquired  a  second 
plantation,  two  miles  above  Goose  Creek  bridge,  fronting  the  high- 
road, whereon  he  lived  and  where  his  son  William  Dry,  3d,  the  collec- 
tor, was  born  in  1720.  This  property  he  advertised  for  sale  or  rent  in 


APPENDICES  315 

1733  and  both  plantations  for  sale  in  1734  (South  Carolina  Gazette, 
July  28,  1733,  February  2,  1734,  May  18,  1735),  in  anticipation  of 
his  departure  for  North  Carolina ;  and  he  finally  left  the  colony  with 
his  family  soon  after  August,  1735.  He  had  married  Rebecca,  sister 
of  Roger,  Maurice,  and  Nathaniel  Moore,  and  it  was  undoubtedly 
through  his  interest  in  their  Cape  Fear  project  that  he  joined  them  in 
the  enterprise.  Either  before  his  arrival  or  immediately  after,  he 
bought  lots  in  Brunswick  and  lived  there  as  a  merchant,  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  captain  of  militia  until  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1746 
or  1747.  His  wife  survived  him  about  ten  years. 

The  son,  William  Dry,  3d,  was  fifteen  years  old  when  he  went 
with  his  father  to  the  Cape  Fear.  He  first  became  prominent  in  Sep- 
tember, 1748,  when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  as  captain  of  the 
militia,  he  led  the  attack  (aided  by  men  from  Wilmington)  on  an 
invading  force  from  two  Spanish  privateers,  which  had  landed  and 
obtained  possession  of  Brunswick.  He  became  a  colonel  in  1754,  was 
appointed  collector  in  1761,  was  named  one  of  the  charter  aldermen 
of  Wilmington  in  1760,  served  in  the  assembly  from  1760  to  1762, 
became  a  member  of  the  council  in  1764  and  continued  in  the  latter 
capacity  under  Dobbs,  Tryon,  and  Martin,  until  in  July,  1775,  he 
was  suspended  by  Governor  Martin  on  the  ground  of  being  disloyal 
to  the  crown.  He  took  the  side  of  the  Revolution,  though  he  was  never 
particularly  active  in  its  behalf;  and  when  the  new  constitution  was 
adopted,  accepted  a  seat  on  the  revolutionary  council. 

In  February,  1746,  Dry  married  Mary  Jane  Rhett,  granddaughter, 
through  her  father,  of  William  Rhett  and,  through  her  mother,  of 
Nicholas  Trott  of  South  Carolina,  and  (as  the  marriage  notice  states) 
"a  lady  of  great  fortune  and  merit"  (South  Carolina  Gazette,  Febru- 
ary 24,  1746).  He  had  a  large  plantation,  "Belleville,"  on  the  north 
side  of  the  road  leading  from  Wilmington  across  Eagles  Island 
southward,  and  at  his  death  left  this  plantation  to  his  daughter, 
Sarah,  "one  of  the  finest  characters  in  the  country,"  who  married 
Benjamin  Smith,  later  governor  of  the  state  and  the  founder  of 
Smithville  (now  Southport),  who  was  of  the  Landgrave  Thomas 
Smith  family  of  South  Carolina.  He  died  in  1781,  aged  sixty-one, 
and  was  buried  in  St.  Philip's  churchyard.  His  wife  survived  him 
until  1 795,  when  she  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  She  must  have  been 
married  at  seventeen. 

It  was  at  Dry's  residence  in  Brunswick  that  Josiah  Quincy  dined  in 
1773,  and  so  well  that  he  called  it  "the  house  of  universal  hospital- 
ity" (Journal,  p.  459). 


316     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Joseph  Eagles. 

Richard  Eagles,  the  elder,  of  a  Bristol  (England)  family,  lived  in 
South  Carolina  until  1735,  when  he  too  joined  the  Cape  Fear  colony. 
In  South  Carolina  he  owned  a  house  and  store  in  Charles  Town, 
which  he  offered  for  rent  in  1733  {South  Carolina  Gazette,  January 
13,  1733)5  a  lot  in  the  town  of  Dorchester,  and  a  plantation,  "Eagles" 
(on  Eagles  Creek  near  Dorchester,  South  Carolina  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Magazine,  XX,  47-48),  which  he  advertised  for  sale  in 
1734,  with  dwelling  house,  large  store,  stable,  and  chaise  house 
{South  Carolina  Gazette,  August  3,  1O,  1734).  He  must  have  left  the 
colony  before  August  30,  1735,  as  at  that  time  he  is  spoken  of  as 
"late  of  Charles  Town,  merchant"  (ib.,  August  30,  1735).  He  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Crichton,  a  granddaughter  of  the  first  William  Dry, 
and  so  was  a  cousin  by  marriage  of  William  Dry,  the  collector.  His 
son,  Richard  Eagles,  2d,  married  Margaret  Bugnion,  and  was  the 
father  of  Joseph  Eagles,  mentioned  in  Miss  Schaw's  narrative. 

Joseph  Eagles,  who  had  not  "come  to  the  years  of  eighteen"  in 
1769,  when  his  father's  will  was  made,  cannot  have  been  much  more 
than  nineteen  or  twenty  at  the  time  of  Miss  Schaw's  visit.  He  was 
"not  yet  major,"  as  Miss  Schaw  says,  and  was  under  the  guardian- 
ship of  her  brother  Robert,  who  had  been  appointed  one  of  the  execu- 
tors of  Richard  Eagles's  estate.  He  had  been  sent  to  England  when 
but  a  child,  living  probably  with  his  father's  relatives  in  Bristol,  and 
had  but  just  returned,  thoroughly  Anglicized.  He  did  not  go  back, 
however,  as  Miss  Schaw  thought  might  be  the  case,  but  remained  in 
the  colony  and  married  there.  His  wife  was  Sarah,  surname  unknown. 
He  died  in  1791,  leaving  two  children,  Richard,  3d,  and  Joseph,  2d, 
the  first  of  whom  died  before  1811,  and  the  second  in  1827,  each  with- 
out heirs.  As  only  an  aunt  remained,  the  wife  of  Alfred  Moore,  the 
disappearance  of  the  family  name  from  the  annals  of  North  Carolina 
is  readily  accounted  for  (Brunswick  County  Records,  Conveyances, 
B,  84,  189,  327,  341,  368;  North  Carolina  Reports,  V,  267,  269). 

Eagles's  plantation,  which  Miss  Schaw  visited  in  so  unexpected  a 
way,  was  called  "The  Forks"  and  was  inherited  from  his  father, 
who  was  living  upon  it  at  the  time  of  his  death.  It  was  situated  a 
short  distance  above  Old  Town  Creek,  on  the  road  from  Brunswick 
to  Schawfield,  was  bounded  on  the  south  by  Eagles  Creek,  and  lay  a 
little  way  below  Eagles  Island  opposite  Wilmington — an  island  that 
received  its  name  from  Joseph's  grandfather,  who  owned  land  there. 
The  plantation  was  of  considerable  size,  containing  a  house,  a  saw- 
mill, and  a  gristmill. 


APPENDICES  317 

Robert  Howe. 

Robert  Howe  was  born  in  North  Carolina  in  1730,  the  third  son 
of  Job  Howe,  or  Hows,  as  the  name  appears  to  have  been  spelt  origi- 
nally. His  grandfather  (also  a  Job — there  were  three  of  the  name) 
came  with  the  Moores  from  South  Carolina,  and  Robert,  through  his 
grandmother,  Mary  Moore,  sister  of  Roger,  Maurice,  and  Nathaniel, 
was  related  to  the  Moores,  Drys,  and  others  among  the  first  settlers. 
He  was  sent  to  England  early,  returning  in  1748,  and  soon  began  to 
play  his  part  hi  the  history  of  the  colony.  He  became  a  justice  of  the 
peace  in  1756,  was  appointed  captain  at  Fort  Johnston  in  1765, 
succeeding  Dalrymple,  was  superseded  by  Collet  in  1767,  but  resumed 
the  post  on  Collet's  return  to  England  in  1769,  and  was  finally  sup- 
planted on  Collet's  return  in  1773.  He  was  for  a  time  a  baron  of  the 
court  of  exchequer  and  became  a  member  of  the  assembly  as  early  as 
1760.  He  married  Sarah  Grange,  daughter  of  Thomas  Grange,  "a 
respectable  planter  on  the  Upper  Cape  Fear  River"  (North  Carolina 
Booklet,  VII,  169),  but  was  separated  from  her  in  1772  and  never 
remarried.  His  political  and  military  career  after  1772  is  too  well 
known  to  need  rehearsal  here. 

Howe's  personality  and  character  have  been  variously  interpreted 
according  to  the  point  of  view.  Miss  Schaw  expressed  the  opinion 
common  in  loyalist  circles.  Governor  Martin,  while  acknowledging 
that  Howe  was  a  "man  of  lively  parts  and  good  understanding," 
charged  him  with  "misapplication  of  the  public  money"  and  with 
endeavoring  "to  establish  a  new  reputation  by  patriotism."  Quincy,  a 
northerner,  thought  better  of  him,  as  "a  most  happy  compound  of  the 
man  of  sense,  the  sword,  the  senate,  and  the  buck.  A  truly  surprising 
character."  No  one  has  ever  questioned  his  ability,  energy,  or  devo- 
tion to  the  revolutionary  cause,  but  it  may  be  that  the  "relation  of  his 
past  life  and  adventures"  (did  we  but  have  it)  would  be  to  us,  as  it 
was  to  Quincy,  "moving  and  ravishing."  "He  was,"  adds  the  latter, 
"formed  by  nature  and  his  education  to  shine  in  the  senate  and  the 
field — in  the  company  of  the  philosopher  and  the  libertine — a  favorite 
of  the  man  of  sense  and  the  female  world.  He  has  faults  and  vices — 
but  alas  who  is  without  them."  This  duality  of  character  may  explain 
the  unpleasant  impression  of  Howe  which  Miss  Schaw  received. 
Howe's  opposition  to  Martin  and  his  later  military  activity  and 
influence  stamp  him  as  a  leader  of  men  and  a  determined,  obstinate 
fighter,  but  certain  incidents  of  his  life  and  his  later  court-martial — 
though  he  was  unanimously  acquitted — seem  to  point  to  flaws  in  his 
character  that  have  never  been  fully  explained. 


318     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

Howe's  father  had  estates  on  the  Sound  and  a  plantation  at  Howe's 
Point  below  Brunswick.  The  latter,  containing  a  large  three-story 
frame  building  on  a  stone  or  brick  foundation,  became  Robert's  resi- 
dence and  was  largely  destroyed  by  the  British  on  May  12,  1776. 
Howe  died  in  1786,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 

James  Moore. 

James  Moore,  colonel  and  major  general,  was  grandson  of  James 
Moore,  who  emigrated  from  Ireland  to  Charles  Town,  was  governor 
there  under  the  proprietors,  and  died  in  1706.  His  father  was  Mau- 
rice Moore,  the  pioneer  and  the  third  husband  of  the  widow  Swann, 
who  was  his  mother.  He  was  born  in  New  Hanover  precinct  in  1737 
and  spent  his  early  years  inconspicuously,  probably  on  his  father's 
plantation  at  Rocky  Point — at  least  until  1761  when  the  property  was 
sold  to  John  Rutherfurd.  He  was  appointed  a  justice  of  the  peace 
in  1759  and  a  colonel  of  militia  before  1765.  He  took  part  in  Tryon's 
campaign  against  the  Regulators,  as  colonel  of  "all  the  artillery  and 
artillery  company  of  volunteers,"  with  Robert  Schaw  as  lieutenant 
colonel,  and  was  present  at  the  battle  of  Alamance,  which  ended  in 
the  defeat  of  the  Regulators  in  1771. 

James  Moore  was  one  of  the  best  types  of  those  who  conscientiously 
opposed  the  royal  government  in  America,  and  from  the  time  of  the 
Stamp  Act  until  his  early  death  he  was  generous  and  high-minded  in 
his  efforts  to  promote  the  cause  of  the  Revolution.  He  was  appointed, 
September  i,  1775,  colonel  of  the  first  regiment  of  Continental  troops 
raised  by  authority  of  the  Convention,  and  in  February,  1776,  was 
already  in  the  field,  prepared  to  oppose  Brigadier  General  Macdon- 
ald,  who,  at  the  head  of  the  Highlanders,  serving  under  the  royal 
standard,  was  marching  on  Wilmington.  He  was  in  command  of  the 
campaign  which  culminated  in  the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek  bridge, 
and  took  part  in  the  manoeuvres  preliminary  to  the  battle,  but  through 
no  fault  of  his  own  had  no  actual  part  in  the  fighting  that  followed. 
As  soon  as  the  battle  was  over,  he  directed  the  movement  of  the 
troops  and  vigorously  pressed  on  the  pursuit  (Connor,  History  of 
North  Carolina,  I,  373,  385-387).  As  Noble  says,  "Moore  planned 
the  whole  campaign,  provided  for  every  contingency,  and  drove  the 
enemy  into  the  hands  of  two  brave  colonels  [Caswell  and  Lillington, 
each  at  the  head  of  a  provincial  regiment]  who  had  taken  their  stand 
at  Moore's  Creek.  The  success  of  the  American  arms  is  entirely  due 
to  his  foresight,  energy,  and  skill"  (North  Carolina  Booklet,  XI). 

Moore  served  in  the  American  army  less  than  a  year,  dying  of  fever 


APPENDICES  319 

at  Wilmington,  January  15,  1777.  His  loss  was  deeply  felt,  for 
friends  and  foes  alike  spoke  well  of  James  Moore.  Miss  Schaw's 
comments  on  both  Robert  Howe  and  James  Moore  show  the  shrewd- 
ness of  her  judgment. 


XII.  A  Few  North  Carolina  Loyalists. 

Robert  Schaw. 

Miss  Schaw's  elder  brother,  Robert,  or  "Bob"  as  he  was  known 
to  all  his  friends,  something  has  already  been  said.  The  first  mention 
of  him  that  we  can  discover  in  North  Carolina  records  is  as  a  witness 
to  an  indenture  of  John  Rutherfurd's  in  1751  (Register's  Office, 
Conveyances,  BC,  24)  and  the  second  is  of  date  1759,  when  he  was 
cited  for  failure  to  work  on  the  streets  and  wharves  of  Wilmington 
and  the  road  from  Point  Peter  to  Mt.  Misery  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Northwest  (Wilmington  Town  Records,  p.  76) .  He  had  probably  begun 
as  an  apprentice  in  a  merchant's  office,  for,  as  his  sister  said,  he  had 
been  in  trade  before  turning  planter.  Such  apprenticeship  might  easily 
have  been  entered  on  at  ten  years  of  age.  It  would  look  as  if  he  had 
been  employed  in  the  store  of  some  Scotsman — probably  Alexander 
Duncan,  who  was  closely  connected  with  the  Rutherfurds  and  Schaws 
and  with  whom  he  was  afterwards  in  partnership.  As  his  name  does 
not  appear  among  the  Wilmington  taxables  in  1755  or  among  those 
with  houses  in  Wilmington  in  1756,  it  is  likely  that  he  did  not  marry 
much  before  1760,  which  would  put  his  birth  date  at  least  as  far  back 
as  1740.  He  may  have  been  and  probably  was  much  older.  Legally  to 
witness  an  indenture  one  would  have  to  be  twenty-one  years  old.  That 
would  put  his  birth  before  1730. 

He  prospered  in  business,  and  sometime  after  1760  became  a 
partner,  first,  in  the  firm  of  Duncan,  Ancrum,  &  Schaw,  and  later, 
after  the  departure  of  the  senior  member  for  England  in  1767,  in  the 
firm  of  Ancrum  &  Schaw,  doing  a  general  merchandising  business. 
Mrs.  Burgwin  once  wrote,  "Hoggs  tea  is  all  gone  and  all  his  hand- 
kerchiefs but  one;  the  tea  I  got  at  Ancrums."  Robert  Schaw  served 
in  many  important  capacities,  being  frequently  called  upon  to  act  as 
trustee,  guardian,  executor  of  estates,  and  witness  of  wills,  and  seems 


320     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

to  have  been  held  in  high  esteem  as  a  prudent  and  reliable  person. 
He  became  a  justice  of  the  county  court  in  1768,  a  commissioner  of 
Wilmington  in  1769,  was  appointed  a  colonel  of  artillery  under 
General  Waddell  in  Tryon's  expedition  against  the  Regulators  in 
1771,  and  on  September  1,  1775,  was  commissioned  a  colonel  in  the 
revolutionary  army.  He  was,  however,  always  lukewarm  in  support 
of  the  American  cause  and  refused  to  follow  the  lead  of  the  radical 
party.  In  June,  1777,  James  Murray  wrote,  "Bob  Schaw  will  be 
obliged  to  leave  Carolina  for  not  taking  the  oath  to  the  states."  There 
is  reason  to  believe  that  his  property  was  sequestrated,  for  in  1786, 
the  administrators  of  his  estate  were  authorized  to  sell  lands  in 
Bladen  county,  known  as  the  Western  Prong  lands,  and  to  save  the 
personal  estate  for  the  widow  and  son  (TV.  C.  State  Records,  XVIII, 
177,  391).  As  by  indentures  between  John  Rutherfurd  and  Robert 
Schaw,  September  7  and  8,  1768,  the  latter  was  made  a  receiver  of 
the  former's  property  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  F,  92-102), 
it  may  be  that  these  are  the  lands  that  Rutherfurd  formerly  owned 
and  that  Schaw  bought  of  Murray  of  Philiphaugh. 

Schaw  married  as  his  first  wife,  Anne,  the  sister  of  John  Ruther- 
furd, who  died  without  issue,  January  n,  1767  (Scots  Magazine, 
1767,  p.  167),  and  as  his  second,  Anne  Vail,  who  is  the  "Mrs.  Schaw" 
of  the  journal.  She  was  the  widow  of  Job  Howe,  the  brother  of 
Robert,  and  had  one  child,  William  Tryon  Howe,  by  her  first  hus- 
band, and  two  children,  Alexander*  and  Robert  Schaw,  by  her  second. 
Alexander  was  born  before  1775  and  died  in  1802;  Robert,  Jr.,  was 
born  before  1778  and  died  probably  before  1788,  as  he  is  not  men- 
tioned in  his  mother's  will.  Robert,  Sr.,  died  in  1786  and  his  wife  two 
years  later  in  1788.  In  the  Wilmington  Centinal  and  General  Ad- 
vertiser for  June  18,  1788,  is  inserted  a  "Request"  that  all  persons 
indebted  to  Robert  Schaw,  Alexander  Duncan,  deceased,  Duncan, 
Ancrum,  &  Schaw,  and  Ancrum  &  Schaw  settle  and  make  payment 
or  renew  their  obligations. 

*  This  son,  Alexander  Schaw,  who  died  in  1802,  left  one  child,  Catherine 
Schaw,  as  we  learn  from  the  will  of  her  uncle,  Alexander  Schaw,  Sr.,  who 
died  at  Inveresk,  Scotland,  leaving  property  to  the  amount  of  £7500.  Accord- 
ing to  that  will  the  son  of  Alexander,  Sr.,  John  Sauchie  Schaw,  was  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  property.  Should  he  die,  however,  before  the  father  and  there  be 
no  heirs  of  his  body,  then  Catherine,  the  niece,  was  to  be  the  heir,  and  should 
she  not  be  living,  then  the  estate  was  to  be  divided  equally  between  John 
Rutherfurd  and  William  Gordon  Rutherfurd,  Schaw's  brothers-in-law  (Com- 
missary Court  Books,  Edinburgh).  As  it  turned  out  John  Sauchie  Schaw 
inherited  the  property. 


APPENDICES  321 


Dr.  Thomas  Cobham. 

Dr.  Thomas  Cobham,  who  occupies  a  conspicuous  place  in  Miss 
Schaw's  story,  was  a  prominent  "practitioner  in  physics"  in  Wil- 
mington, the  first  mention  of  whom  in  contemporary  records  is  of 
date  March  22,  1765,  when  he  witnessed  the  will  of  Lieutenant 
Whitehurst  of  H.  M.  S.  Viper,  who,  in  the  duel  with  Alexander  Simp- 
son, master  of  the  same  vessel,  fought  on  March  18,  received  wounds 
from  which  he  died.  In  his  own  testimony  before  the  Loyalist  Claims 
Commission  he  says  that  he  settled  on  the  Cape  Fear  in  1766  and 
from  that  time  followed  his  profession.  He  had  a  partner,  Dr.  Robert 
Tucker,  to  whom  he  made  a  division  of  a  third  of  the  profits  of  his 
practice,  but  from  whom  he  had  parted  before  he  finally  left  the 
colony.  He  accompanied  Tryon  on  the  campaign  against  the  Regula- 
tors, dividing  with  a  Dr.  Haslin  the  inspection  of  the  troops  (N.  C.  R. 
VIII,  584).  He  was  loyalist  in  his  sympathies,  and  at  first,  on  March 
7»  J775»  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  Continental  Association;  but  on 
the  13th  changed  his  mind  and  in  the  June  following  sent  two 
guineas  to  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  the  purchase  of  gunpowder. 
In  August  he  promised,  at  the  request  of  the  committee,  not  to  send 
medicines  to  Governor  Martin  on  board  the  Cruizer,  and  after  the 
battle  of  Moore's  Creek  bridge  attended  without  pay  the  Loyalists  who 
were  wounded  in  the  battle.  He  said  afterwards  that  he  never  took 
any  oath  to  the  Americans  but  obtained  a  certificate  from  a  magistrate 
that  he  had  taken  an  oath. 

Cobham  planned  to  go  to  England  on  the  opening  of  the  war,  but 
was  prevailed  upon  to  remain  "by  the  executive  officers  of  govern- 
ment," until  the  occupation  of  Wilmington  by  Craig,  January  28, 
1781,  when  he  joined  the  British  troops  and  was  appointed  surgeon 
to  H.  M.  naval  hospital  at  Charles  Town  and  later  by  Admiral 
Digby  to  the  same  at  St.  Augustine.  There  he  remained  until  Florida 
was  given  back  to  Spain  in  1783,  when  he  and  the  hospital  were 
removed  to  New  Providence  in  the  Bahamas.  He  continued  in  the 
service  of  the  hospital  there  until  he  was  discharged,  April  5,  1786, 
when  in  September  he  returned  to  England.  There  he  learned  from 
letters  received  soon  after  that  his  estate  in  North  Carolina  had  been 
confiscated  and  sold  (Audit  Office  Papers). 

He  and  his  wife,  Catherine  Mary  Paine,  widow  of  John  Paine  of 
Brunswick  county,  early  bought  land  on  Old  Town  Creek,  but  in 
1771  they  sold  this  property  and  acquired  a  plantation  of  1300  acres, 
with  two  sawmills,  in  which  Cobham  had  a  half  interest.  In  1772 
he  occupied  a  house  in  Wilmington,  rented  of  Mrs.  Jane  Dubois, 


322     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

probably  on  Front  Street  (Wilmington  Town  Records,  pp.  154,  160), 
and  there  Josiah  Quincy  dined  "in  company  with  Harnett,  Hooper, 
Burgwin,  Dr.  Tucker,  and  others"  on  March  29  of  that  year,  and 
there  too  he  lodged  and  was  treated  with  great  politeness,  though,  as 
he  wrote  in  his  journal,  Dr.  Cobham  was  "an  utter  stranger  and  one 
to  whom  I  had  no  letters"  {Journal,  p.  460).  In  or  about  March, 
1775,  Cobham  purchased  of  George  Moore,  for  £840  proclamation 
money,*  another  house  between  Princess  and  Chestnut  streets  near 
the  river,  which  may  have  been  the  house  called  "The  Lodge,"  where 
Miss  Schaw  was  entertained  and  from  the  balcony  of  which  she  saw 
the  review.  On  December  5,  1778,  Cobham  exchanged  this  house  for  a 
plantation  of  500  acres  in  the  neighborhood  of  Wilmington,  probably 
near  Schawfield.  This  seems  to  be  the  plantation  referred  to  in  a  deed 
of  1779,  according  to  which  John  Rutherfurd  sold  to  Dr.  Cobham 
200  acres  on  both  sides  of  the  main  branch  of  Long  Creek,  "adjoin- 
ing the  mill  lands  of  Cobham,"  which  (according  to  the  deed) 
Rutherfurd  had  received  by  the  will  of  Jean  Corbin  (Register's 
Office,  Conveyances,  H,  10.  There  is  no  such  bequest  in  Mrs.  Corbin's 
will ;  the  property  may  have  been  sold  by  Rutherfurd  for  his  chil- 
dren). 

Mrs.  Cobham,  mentioned  by  Miss  Schaw,  died  sometime  before 
1777.  There  was  a  daughter  also,  Catherine  Jane,  whom  Cobham 
left,  together  with  his  furniture,  in  the  care  of  a  lady  in  Wilmington 
when  he  went  to  Charles  Town,  and  for  whom  he  made  provision, 
leaving  for  her,  in  trust,  400  acres  on  the  west  side  of  the  Northwest, 
next  Schawfield  on  Indian  Creek  (Register's  Office,  Conveyances,  L, 
Ft.  2,  567-568). 

That  Dr.  Cobham  was  highly  respected  in  Wilmington  is  plainly 

*  The  method  of  paying  for  this  house  is  interesting  (Audit  Office,  Class 
13,  118),  as  no  money  actually  passed  from  Cobham  to  Moore. 

To  amount  of  account  due  by  Mr.  Moore  to  Cobham  and  Tucker  .  120.10.0 

To  Tucker's  physical  account  paid  him 39-  0.2 

To  cash  from  Estate  of  Thomas  Jones 11.10.0 

To  account  paid  by  Mr.  J.  Moore  on  account  of  Mr.  Samuel  Swan  40.  0.0 

To  cash  paid  John  Ancrum  (June  14,  1775) 304.  4.8 

To  cash  paid  John  Ancrum  on  account  of  tar  (July  24)  ....  125.  0.0 

To  cash  paid  John  Ancrum  for  a  horse  and  lumber  (Jan.,  1776)   .  78.  O.O 

To  cash  paid  John  Ancrum 100.  o.o 

To  Cobham  &  Tucker's  ace',  Jan.,  1775-Feb.  16,  1776 9.  3.6 

To  cash  in  part  of  Cobham's  ace*  for  medicines  and  attendance 

July,  1776-Nov.,  1778 12.1 1.8 

£840.  0.0 


APPENDICES  323 

evident.  Thomas  McGuire,  one  of  the  witnesses  before  the  Loyalist 
Claims  Commission,  said  that  he  was  a  man  not  only  of  probity  but  of 
distinguished  eminence  in  his  profession.  He  was  still  living  in  1797. 

Robert  Hogg. 

Robert  Hogg  came  to  North  Carolina  from  northern  Scotland 
about  1756  and  became  a  successful  and  prosperous  merchant,  living 
"in  affluence,"  as  the  record  says.  He  was  a  native  of  East  Lothian 
and  had  two  brothers,  James  and  John,  the  former  of  whom  in  1774, 
at  the  age  of  forty-six,  came  to  the  colony  from  Caithness  with  his 
wife  and  five  children,  all  of  the  latter  under  eight  years  of  age. 
Robert  Hogg  had  visited  Caithness  in  1772,  and  finding  his  brother 
James  tormented  by  local  thievery  and  disorder,  persuaded  him  to  go 
to  America,  which  he  did,  bringing  with  him  a  shipload  of  280  per- 
sons, including  his  own  family  of  sixteen,  with  servants,  174  passen- 
gers above  the  age  of  eight,  60  children  under  eight,  and  30  infants. 
James  settled  first  at  Cross  Creek,  where  he  ran  a  store  in  close 
conjunction  with  Robert's  store  in  Wilmington.* 

We  meet  with  traces  of  Robert's  life  in  Wilmington  from  the 
Wilmington  town  records.  In  common  with  many  other  estimable 
citizens  who  preferred  to  pay  a  fine  rather  than  work  on  the  roads, 
he  was  occasionally  cited  as  a  defaulter.  In  1769  he  and  John  Ancrum 
were  elected  commissioners  of  the  town,  but  as  he  wished  to  leave  the 
province  to  go  to  Scotland  in  1772,  his  place  was  taken  by  his  partner, 
Samuel  Campbell.  On  his  return  he  found  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment under  way  and  at  first  cooperated  with  the  Wilmington  Com- 
mittee of  Safety.  But  in  July,  1775,  when  the  members  began  to 
advocate  extreme  measures,  he  withdrew,  and  in  September  sailed 
for  England,  with  a  letter  of  recommendation  from  Governor  Mar- 
tin to  Lord  Dartmouth,  written  on  board  the  Cruizer,  August  31,  as 
follows:  "A  merchant  of  first  consideration  in  the  colony,  where  he 
has  resided  many  years,  and  who  is  compelled  by  popular  clamour 
and  resentment  to  abandon  his  important  concerns  here,  because  he 
will  not  renounce  his  principles,  which  he  has  maintained  with  a 
manly  firmness  and  steadiness,  which  do  equal  honour  to  his  heart 
and  understanding.  As  I  know  no  gentleman  better  qualified  than  Mr. 
Hogg,  both  by  his  intelligence  and  candour,  to  represent  the  state  of 

*  For  his  later  career  see  Battle,  in  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monographs, 
no.  3,  pp.  13-16.  Battle  is  wrong  in  calling  James  a  cousin  of  Robert's;  he 
was  his  brother. 


324     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

this  colony,  I  think  it  a  point  of  duty  to  introduce  him  to  your  Lord- 
ship, and  to  give  you  opportunity  of  communication  with  him" 
(Dartmouth  Papers).  Mrs.  DeRosset  wrote  soon  after,  "Perhaps  you 
will  be  surprised  to  hear  Mr.  Hogg  is  in  England.  He  was  one  of 
your  non-conformed  to  the  times,  and  so  made  off!"  Two  years 
later  James  Clarke  wrote  to  James  Hogg,  at  that  time  in  Hillsboro, 
"I  have  always  had  a  great  friendship  for  your  brother  and  never 
considered  him  an  enemy  to  this  country"  (N.  C.  State  Records,  XIV, 
478).  Robert  Hogg  was  one  of  that  large  class  of  intelligent  moder- 
ates in  the  colonies  who  were  unable  to  see  the  necessity  of  extreme 
measures  and  were  literally  forced  into  opposition  against  their  wills. 
In  the  growth  of  the  revolutionary  movement  the  time  had  unfortu- 
nately passed  when  moderation  was  longer  possible. 

Robert  Hogg  remained  in  England,  living  in  Threadneedle  Street, 
very  frugally,  with  an  aged  father  to  support,  until  the  summer  of 
1778,  when  hearing  of  the  North  Carolina  law,  passed  December  28, 
1777,  declaring  forfeit  the  property  of  all  who  did  not  return  by 
October  of  that  year,  he  determined  to  sail  for  New  York,  to  await 
the  issue  of  the  efforts  of  the  second  peace  commission.  He  arrived 
before  September,  1778,  but  died  in  New  York  the  following  year, 
leaving  his  brother  his  heir.  James  remained  in  North  Carolina  and 
endeavored  to  recover  some  of  the  debts  due  the  firm  of  Hogg  & 
Campbell.  The  debts  of  the  firm  amounted  to  £18,669,  currency  (ap- 
parently including  such  also  as  were  owed  to  merchants  in  England, 
which  they  paid)  ;  the  debts  due  them  in  the  colony  came  to  £34,9995 
currency,  and  among  those  owing  the  firm  money  may  be  found  the 
names  of  Robert  Schaw  and  Archibald  Neilson  (Audit  Office 
Papers). 

Samuel  Campbell. 

Samuel  Campbell  was  a  native  of  North  Carolina  and  a  merchant 
of  Wilmington  in  partnership  with  Robert  Hogg  and  for  a  time  with 
Frederick  Gregg.  He  became  a  captain  of  militia,  and  was  compelled 
to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  He  became  cap- 
tain of  a  company  in  Wilmington,  which  exercised  privately  before 
the  battle  of  Moore's  Creek  bridge,  apparently  with  the  intention  of 
cooperating  with  the  Highlanders ;  but  later  was  ordered  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  to  march  to  Fort  Johnston  and  dismantle  it  (see 
above,  p.  205).  This  he  refused  to  do  and  was  threatened  with  court- 
martial,  but  in  the  end  was  neither  imprisoned  nor  tried.  He  then 
retired  into  the  country  and  paid  a  sum  of  money  for  a  substitute. 


APPENDICES  325 

He  openly  joined  Craig  in  1781  and  was  appointed  a  captain  of 
militia,  and  when  Craig  marched  into  the  country  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  town.  On  the  evacuation  of  Wilmington  he  went  to 
Charles  Town  and  was  appointed  by  Colonel  Leslie  a  colonel  of 
militia,  but  on  the  failure  of  the  southern  campaign  he  left  the  city 
and  went  to  Nova  Scotia  {Second  Report,  Ontario  Bureau  of  Ar- 
chives, pp.  54-55).  There  he  purchased  an  improved  farm  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Shelburne,  settled  upon  it  with  his  family,  and  ex- 
pended upon  it  what  property  he  had  left.  In  1786  he  reported  that 
he  had  not  enough  to  live  on,  but  in  1800  he  was  still  there  (Register's 
Office  Conveyances,  L,  Ft.  2,  726).  His  wife,  Alice,  was  a  niece  of 
Samuel  Cornell,  a  man  of  some  prominence  in  the  political  affairs  of 
North  Carolina,  who  became  himself  a  Loyalist,  lost  his  property, 
and  otherwise  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  revolutionary  party. 

Campbell  in  withdrawing  his  allegiance  to  the  state  transferred  to 
James  Hogg  all  claims  to  the  property  of  Hogg  &  Campbell,  and 
because  debarred  from  bringing  suits  in  his  own  name,  was  protected 
by  an  act  passed  in  1787,  authorizing  James  Hogg  and  two  others 
to  maintain  suits  in  their  own  name  as  executors  (N.  C.  State  Records, 
XXIII,  187,  417;  XXIV,  858-859).  He  said  that  his  former  income 
("gains  in  trade")  was  £600  a  year  and  that  his  own  personal  loss 
was  £2000  sterling. 

Thomas  Macknight. 

The  case  of  Thomas  Macknight  illustrates  admirably  how  unfor- 
tunate often  was  the  policy  of  the  radical  revolutionaries  in  driving 
out  many  men  in  sympathy  with  the  cause  of  America,  but  who  for 
one  reason  or  another  were  unable  to  adapt  themselves  at  once  to  a 
program  of  revolt.  Our  revolution  was  true  to  type,  and  in  the  year 
1775  there  was  no  place  in  the  revolutionary  party  for  men  who  quali- 
fied in  any  important  particular  their  entire  submission  to  the  will  of 
those  in  control.  A  radical  minority  dominated  the  movement  and 
played  the  autocrat  without  mercy,  pursuing  with  intolerant  resent- 
ment anyone  who  failed  to  see  the  situation  eye  to  eye  with  them- 
selves. It  could  not  have  been  otherwise,  for  a  revolution  to  be  a 
revolution  means  the  uncontrolled  rule  of  a  relatively  small  body  of 
men.  The  hardships  which  the  moderates  suffered  in  the  years  from 
1774  to  1780  are  comparable,  mutatis  mutandis,  with  the  hardships 
suffered  by  men  of  moderate  minds  and  restrained  opinions  in  the 
revolutions  of  England  and  France. 


326     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

The  documents  in  the  Macknight  case  are  many  and  voluminous, 
but  only  a  few  facts  need  to  be  stated  here. 

Thomas  Macknight  was  a  Scotsman,  who  came  to  North  Carolina 
in  1757  and  during  the  eighteen  years  that  followed  rapidly  advanced 
to  a  position  of  influence  and  large  wealth.  He  owned  landed  property 
in  five  counties  in  the  colony,  chiefly  in  the  Albemarle  region,  though 
some  of  his  land  lay  in  the  south  near  the  upper  Cape  Fear,  and  he 
was  deeply  interested  in  shipbuilding  and  the  export  trade  in  conjunc- 
tion with  certain  merchants  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  with  whom  he  was 
joined  in  a  business  partnership.  His  energies  for  many  years  were 
expended  in  the  effort  to  build  up  the  industry  and  trade  of  the 
northern  part  of  the  province,  which  in  the  period  after  the  removal 
of  the  capital  to  New  Bern  and  the  growth  of  the  Cape  Fear  section 
had  tended  to  decline.  When  the  revolutionary  troubles  came  on,  he 
exerted  his  influence  to  hold  the  Albemarle  counties  (notably  Cur- 
rituck  and  Pasquotank)  to  their  allegiance,  and  succeeded  in  doing  so 
until  October,  1775.  In  the  convention  of  April  4,  1775,  he  was  pres- 
ent as  a  representative  from  Currituck,  and  when  at  the  session  of 
Thursday,  April  6,  the  members  were  called  upon  to  subscribe  to  the 
Continental  Association,  he  was  the  only  one  who  refused,  on  the 
ground  that  the  doing  so  would  involve  a  repudiation  of  a  debt  owed 
to  a  certain  merchant  in  Great  Britain,  an  act  so  dishonorable  that  he 
was  unwilling  to  consider  it.  He  asked  for  time  in  which  to  settle  his 
obligations  and  his  request  was  upheld  by  a  majority  of  the  members 
present,  who  refused  at  first  to  vote  a  sentence  of  excommunication. 
But  the  radical  minority,  threatening  to  leave  if  the  sentence  was  not 
voted,  forced  the  majority  to  pass  the  vote  and  to  declare  Macknight 
"inimical  in  his  intentions  to  the  liberties  of  America." 

Macknight  had  already  withdrawn  from  the  convention,  and,  after 
the  vote  was  declared,  the  other  representative  from  Currituck  and 
the  two  representatives  from  Pasquotank  also  withdrew.  Before  they 
did  so,  however,  they  drafted  a  statement  of  reasons  and  requested 
that  it  be  entered  in  the  journal  of  proceedings,  but  the  convention 
refused  their  request  and  they  were  obliged  to  vindicate  in  the  news- 
papers their  attempt  to  rescue  "the  character  of  a  gentleman  we 
greatly  esteem  from  undeserved  obloquy  and  reproach."  Through 
that  medium  both  they  and  Macknight  stated  the  facts  in  the  case, 
the  latter  declaring  "that  he  was  greatly  concerned  he  could  not 
heartily  concur  in  the  vote  proposed  to  be  passed,  on  account  of  par- 
ticular circumstances  in  his  situation  which  obliged  him  to  dislike 
some  part  of  the  Association;  that  he  owed  a  debt  in  Britain  which 


APPENDICES  327 


the  operation  of  the  non-exportation  agreement  would  disable  him  to 
pay;  and  that  he  could  not  approve  of  a  conduct  in  a  collective 
capacity,  which  as  an  individual  he  should  blush  to  acknowledge." 
He  added  further,  "that  he  thought  it  a  duty  he  owed  to  his  own 
sincerity  to  mention  this  sentiment,  but  did  not  mean  to  obstruct  the 
good  purposes  proposed  by  an  union  of  measures;  that  he  would 
cheerfully  comply  with  the  non-consumption  and  non-importation 
agreement,  and  should  give  a  passive  agreement  to  the  non-exporta- 
tion article ;  that  an  individual,  as  a  member  of  society,  ought  to  con- 
form his  action  to  the  general  will  of  it,  but  that  opinions  could  not 
be  altered  without  conviction  or  insincerely  expressed  without  dis- 
honesty."* 

In  a  similar  public  announcement,  issued  by  the  other  deputies 
from  Currituck  and  Pasquotank,  the  latter  expressed  their  faith  in 
Macknight's  intentions  as  having  been  "always  friendly  to  the  cause 
of  American  liberty,  his  actions  evidently  shewing  to  us,  who  are  his 
neighbors,  the  uprightness  of  his  intentions ;  nor  did  we  observe  any 
disingenuous  or  equivocal  behaviour  in  Mr.  Macknight  to  warrant 
the  censure  of  the  convention  in  the  smallest  degree,  but  some  of  those 
who  were  with  him  before,  being  now  offended  by  his  withdrawing 
from  amongst  them,  joined  the  other  party."  Macknight  in  his  turn 
publicly  expressed  his  obligations  "to  the  inhabitants  of  Newbern  in 
general  and  more  particularly  to  his  friends,  who  by  continuing  their 
wonted  civilities  have  discovered  to  the  world  their  opinion  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention  relative  to  himself"  {North  Carolina 
Gazette,  April  14,  1775). 

From  this  time  forward,  Macknight  became  a  marked  man,  "inimi- 
cal" whether  he  wanted  to  be  or  not.  He  was  cajoled,  bribed,  and 
threatened;  finally  an  attempt  was  made  to  assassinate  him  in  his 
own  house,  and  his  dwelling,  his  merchandise,  his  crops,  and  his 
negroes  were  plundered.  Then  he  fled,  first  at  the  end  of  1775  to 
Lord  Dunmore  in  Virginia,  and  after  that  in  February,  1776,  to  Gov- 
ernor Martin.  He  returned  once  to  the  Cape  Fear  in  July  or  August, 
1776  (Second  Report,  Ontario  Bureau  of  Archives,  p.  1231),  but 
finally  toward  the  end  of  1776  he  left  permanently  for  England.  We 
meet  with  him  once  or  twice  appearing  before  the  Loyalist  Claims 
Commission,  in  behalf  of  Carolina  friends. 

*  "We  hear  that  Mr.  Knight  is  raising  men  in  Currituck  to  subdue  the 
Edenton  Committee  and  to  force  open  trade  for  the  laudable  purpose  of 
paying  his  debts."  Cogdell  to  Samuel  Johnston,  New  Bern,  June  18,  1775 
(Hayes  Collection). 


328     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

During  the  years  that  followed  he  made  long  and  persistent  efforts 
to  obtain  compensation  for  his  losses,  in  part  for  property  confiscated 
in  North  Carolina,  and  in  part  for  two  vessels,  one  of  which  was 
commandeered  by  the  British  authorities  in  North  Carolina,  the  other, 
cleared  in  September,  1775,  with  a  valuable  cargo  for  Lisbon,  was 
seized  by  the  Americans  in  December,  and,  when  released,  taken  off 
Cape  St.  Vincent  by  a  British  man-of-war,  in  May,  1776,  and  con- 
demned as  lawful  prize  under  the  Prohibitory  Act.  For  ten  years  he 
labored  in  desperation,  appealing  to  the  Treasury,  Lord  North,  Lord 
George  Germain,  Lord  Dartmouth,  and  the  Loyalist  Claims  Com- 
mission, but  never  succeeded  in  securing  anything  that  he  considered 
an  adequate  compensation.  Of  his  later  career  we  know  nothing.  With 
the  failure  of  his  efforts  he  completely  disappears  from  view.  As  we 
read  through  the  long  series  of  letters,  petitions,  and  memorials  to  be 
found  among  the  papers  of  Lord  Dartmouth  and  the  Loyalist  Claims 
Commission,  we  are  puzzled  to  understand  the  causes  of  his  failure. 
Even  with  full  allowance  for  the  fact  that  the  evidence  is  ex  parte, 
Macknight's  case  seems  a  peculiarly  pathetic  one.  (A  convenient 
printed  statement  may  be  found  in  The  Royal  Commission  on  Loyal- 
ist Claims,  Roxburghe  Club,  for  which  see  the  index ;  later  letters  and 
petitions,  with  one  exception,  are  in  manuscript,  copies  of  some  of 
which  may  be  found  at  Raleigh.) 


XIII.  Archibald  Neilson. 

1  HE  "stranger  gentleman,"  to  whom  Miss  Schaw  refers,  and  with 
whom  she  was  destined  to  become  exceedingly  intimate  during  the 
last  few  months  of  her  travels,  was  Archibald  Neilson.  He  was  born 
in  Dundee,  Scotland,  the  home  of  Governor  Gabriel  Johnston  and 
his  brother  Samuel,  about  the  year  1745.  One  who,  as  Miss  Schaw 
says,  had  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world,  was  highly  educated,  and 
conversant  with  many  languages,  can  hardly  have  been  less  than 
thirty  at  the  time  of  Miss  Schaw's  visit,  even  though  Miss  Schaw 
does  speak  of  him  in  one  place  as  a  "young  fellow."  We  have  no 
details  of  his  early  life,  beyond  the  fact  that  he  had  been  employed 
by  "Mr.  Grenville"  in  the  West  Indies  (and  if  George  Grenville  is 
meant,  this  employment  must  have  been  before  1765)  and  it  is  possible 


APPENDICES  329 

that  he  there  came  into  touch  with  the  Martin  family.  He  wrote  to 
John  Wilmot  in  1788,  "I  had  long  been  honored  with  the  particular 
friendship  of  the  deceased  governor  Martin  on  his  being  appointed  to 
the  government  of  North  Carolina  and,  as  I  was  at  that  time  a  young 
man  without  fixed  line  of  employment,  he  in  warmest  and  most 
friendly  manner  invited  me  to  join  him  in  his  province.  I  accordingly 
joined  him  and  lived  with  him  in  the  most  confidential  manner.  I 
was,  so  far  as  consisted,  privy  to  the  measures  of  his  government,  in 
forwarding  many  of  which  he  did  me  the  honour  of  calling  on  my 
services"  (Audit  Office  Papers). 

Neilson  arrived  in  the  province  in  1771  and  lived  at  New  Bern,  hi 
the  governor's  "palace"  with  Martin  for  four  years,  acting  at  times 
as  his  secretary.  He  was  serving  in  that  capacity  when  the  troubles 
broke  out  in  March,  1775,  and  in  May  aided  Martin  to  escape  in  that 
eventful  flight  from  New  Bern  to  Fort  Johnston,  which  cost  Martin 
his  influence  in  the  province.  He  aided  also  Mrs.  Martin  and  the 
children  to  make  their  way  to  New  York,  securing  the  vessel  and 
seeing  them  safely  on  board.  Free  then  from  further  obligation  to 
remain  at  New  Bern  and  "after  some  various  escapes  from  the  popu- 
lar fury,"  one  or  two  of  which  Miss  Schaw  recounts,  he  was  obliged 
to  take  refuge  with  the  governor  on  board  the  Cruizer,  and  there  he 
remained  until  he  left  the  province  in  November,  1775. 

Neilson  was  appointed  to  the  clerkship  of  the  courts  by  Martin, 
an  appointment  contested  by  the  assembly,  and  he  also  held  an  agency 
under  the  governor  for  the  Granville  Grant,  neither  of  which  offices 
seems  to  have  netted  him  anything  in  the  way  of  financial  return.  In 
January,  1775,  on  the  death  of  Isaac  Edwards,  the  deputy  auditor, 
Martin  appointed  Neilson  in  his  stead,  and  later,  in  October,  while 
both  were  on  board  the  Cruizer  and  after  Samuel  Johnston,  the  naval 
officer,  had  shown  his  strong  prediliction  for  the  revolutionary  cause 
by  acting  as  moderator  of  the  provincial  congress,  Martin  suspended 
Johnston  and  gave  Neilson  his  place.  But  the  progress  of  the  Revolu- 
tion destroyed  the  value  of  both  offices,  the  emoluments  from  which 
came  from  fees;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  when  in  the  summer  of 
1775  one  Pryce  arrived  from  England  with  deputations  as  provincial 
secretary  and  deputy  auditor,  he  was  so  alarmed  at  the  disorder  of  the 
country  and  disgusted  with  the  climate  that  he  returned  to  England 
without  even  calling  on  the  governor  (N.  C.  R.  X,  237,  263,  269, 


. 

Neilson  had  no  property  in  the  colony,  except  two  houses,  two 
negroes,  some  furniture  and  books,  all  of  which  he  left  behind,  "being 
obliged  to  flee  suddenly."  It  is  at  least  worthy  of  remark  that  he 


330     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

should  have  taken  no  advantage  of  his  intimacy  with  the  governor 
to  obtain  land  or  accumulate  wealth  by  any  of  those  means  which 
place-seekers  of  the  time  knew  so  well  how  to  utilize. 

Miss  Schaw  adds  greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  Neilson's  activities 
during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1775  and  of  his  experiences  with 
her  and  Fanny  in  the  city  of  Lisbon.  After  returning  from  Portu- 
gal in  January  or  February,  1776,  he  went  to  London,  where  he 
applied  to  Lord  Dartmouth  for  a  commissaryship  or  some  similar 
post  in  the  British  army  in  America,  his  first  letter  being  dated  May 
7,  from  "15  Orange  Street,  Leicester  Fields."  He  was  evidently  un- 
successful in  his  application,  for  in  the  same  year  the  Treasury 
granted  him  a  temporary  relief,  on  his  offering  to  go  as  a  volunteer 
to  New  York.  At  this  crisis,  however,  his  brother  died  at  Dundee, 
leaving  a  widow  and  nine  children,  the  eldest  only  thirteen,  and  Neil- 
son  was  obliged  to  return  to  Scotland  in  order  to  care  for  an  aged 
mother,  two  sisters,  a  sister-in-law,  and  all  the  children.  There  he 
remained  until  the  end  of  his  life.  All  further  applications  to  the 
Loyalist  Claims  Commission  had  to  be  made  in  writing,  subscribed 
under  oath  before  the  chief  magistrate  of  the  royal  borough  of  Dun- 
dee. In  1783  he  was  awarded  a  yearly  allowance  of  £60,  which  he 
drew  regularly  until  his  death  in  1805.  In  the  Loyalist  Quarterly 
Pension  Books  the  name  of  his  attorney  appears  every  quarter,  until 
in  the  entries  for  January,  1806,  the  word  "dead"  is  written  in  pencil 
at  the  side  of  his  name  and  no  payment  is  inserted  in  the  column 
(Treas.  50:  20).  He  never  married. 

During  his  life  in  the  colony  Neilson  was  on  terms  of  friendship 
with  Samuel  Johnston  and  James  Iredell  and  probably  others. 
McRee  in  his  life  of  Iredell  prints  a  number  of  his  letters,  which 
show  the  keenness  and  vigor  of  his  thought  and  the  wide  scope  of  his 
reading.  In  commenting  upon  him,  McRee  justly  says,  "He  was, 
undoubtedly,  one  of  the  most  highly  cultivated  men  of  his  day  and 
region,  and  though  an  adherent  of  government,  highly  esteemed  by 
Iredell  and  Johnston"  (Life  of  Iredell,  I,  201-202). 


XIV.  Captain  John  Abraham  Collet. 

CAPTAIN  John  Abraham  Collet  may  well  be  deemed  the  villain 
of  this  phase  of  the  story,  for,  though  possessing  many  natural  gifts, 


APPENDICES  331 


he  was  domineering  and  unprincipled  and  has  received  little  com- 
mendation from  either  party  in  the  struggle.  He  has,  however,  been 
treated  more  harshly  than  was  necessary  by  North  Carolina  his- 
torians who,  following  contemporary  revolutionary  opinion,  have 
given  him  no  credit  for  his  successful  handling  of  a  difficult  situa- 
tion. Furthermore,  North  Carolina  owes  him  something  for  the 
excellent  maps  that  he  prepared  of  the  province — maps  not  generally 
known  and  never  reproduced  to  our  knowledge.  One  was  engraved 
and  published ;  the  other  two,  now  in  the  British  Museum,  with  photo- 
graphic copies  at  Raleigh  and  in  the  Library  of  Congress,  still  remain 
in  manuscript.  Of  the  latter,  the  smaller  covers  the  lower  Cape  Fear ; 
the  larger,  Albemarle  and  the  back  country. 

Captain  Collet  before  coming  to  North  Carolina  had  served  six 
campaigns  in  Germany  and  later  for  four  years  studied  mathematics, 
engineering,  and  drawing.  On  May  27,  1767,  he  was  commissioned 
commander  of  Fort  Johnston,  and  in  August  embarked  for  North 
Carolina,  delivering  his  credentials  to  Governor  Tryon  in  December. 
He  was  discouraged  at  the  miserable  condition  of  the  fort  and  the 
insufficient  allowance  made  for  its  maintenance,  and  as  an  ad  interim 
employment  accepted  Tryon's  invitation  to  accompany  him  as  his 
aide-de-camp  on  the  expedition  against  the  Regulators  in  1768.  In 
December  of  that  year  he  returned  to  England,  having  in  the  mean- 
time surveyed  the  province  and  completed  a  map  of  it,  "which  he 
afterward  had  the  honour  of  presenting  to  His  Majesty  and  upon 
the  publication  of  which  he  actually  lost  £500."  (Testimony  before 
the  Loyalist  Claims  Commission.)  This  map,  engraved  by  Bayley, 
was  published  May  1,  1770,  by  S.  Hooper,  Ludgate  Hill,  London. 

Though  Collet  carried  to  England  recommendations  from  Tryon 
to  Hillsborough,  he  was  unsuccessful  in  obtaining  preferment.  While 
in  England  he  was  employed  in  drawing  until  in  1772  he  was  ordered 
by  the  secretary  of  state  for  the  colonies  to  return  to  America  and 
take  up  his  post  at  Fort  Johnston.  In  the  meantime  Governor  Martin 
had  endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  assembly  the  necessity  of  making 
an  adequate  appropriation  for  charges  and  maintenance  of  the  fort, 
but  with  slight  success.  Collet  reached  the  country  in  1773,  and  with 
the  governor's  approval  "spared  neither  time  nor  pains  to  put  [the 
fort]  into  substantial  repair"  and,  according  to  his  own  statement, 
continued  to  maintain  it  at  his  own  expense  up  to  1775.  Martin  and 
Collet  were  in  fact  on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma :  the  assembly  would 
do  nothing  because  Collet  was  a  British  officer ;  and  Secretary  Dart- 
mouth would  do  nothing  because  the  fort  "seemed  calculated  merely 


332     THE  JOURNAL  OF  A  LADY  OF  QUALITY 

for  the  security  and  convenience  of  the  commerce  of  the  colony" 
(W.  C.  R.  IX,  1008). 

From  the  end  of  1774  Collet  was  harassed  "in  every  way  the 
Americans  could  devise;  they  cut  off  his  usual  channels  for  pro- 
visions, and  by  great  premiums  and  promises  seduced  his  men  to 
desert  and  after  the  first  bloodshed  at  Lexington  they  declared  open 
hostilities  and  more  destruction  to  the  garrison."  As  early  as  March, 
1775,  the  rumor  spread  that  the  fort  was  to  be  attacked  and  Collet 
and  his  lieutenant,  Richard  Wilson,  prepared  for  its  defence.  This 
activity,  coupled  with  other  rumors,  true  and  false,  convinced  the 
Wilmington  committee  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  capture  the  fort 
and  if  possible  to  take  Martin  and  Collet  into  custody.  The  attack- 
ing force  numbered  five  hundred ;  for  defence  Collet  had  twenty-five 
men,  reduced  by  desertion  to  less  than  half  that  number,  of  whom 
only  three  or  four  were  to  be  depended  on.  The  artillery  was  useless 
for  want  of  powder.  When  it  became  evident  that  the  fort  could  not 
hold  out,  Martin  retired  on  board  the  man-of-war  and  ordered  Collet 
and  Wilson  to  dismantle  the  fort,  save  the  guns,  and  embark  for 
Boston.  This  they  did,  July  21,  1775,  delivering  to  General  Gage 
"a  very  valuable  and  costly  set  of  artillery,  arms,  stores,  and  am- 
munition belonging  to  the  Crown."  While  waiting  on  the  transport, 
Collet  saw  his  own  property  destroyed,  losing,  according  to  his  own 
estimate,  in  house  and  stable,  horses,  cattle,  carriages,  hay,  liquors, 
and  furniture  upward  of  £5900,  with  a  total  loss  of  "at  least  £10,000" 
(Audit  Office  Papers).  Wilson,  likewise,  lost  a  house  and  stable,  three 
saddle  horses,  and  other  property  worth  £400  (Second  Report,  On- 
tario Bureau  of  Archives,  p.  1207).  The  attacking  party,  not  content 
with  the  destruction  of  the  fort  and  the  houses  belonging  to  it,  shortly 
afterwards  tarred  and  feathered  the  gunner  "for  expressing  his 
loyalty,"  and  "so  grossly  insulted  Mr.  Mulligan  in  particular,  sur- 
geon to  the  forts  and  garrisons  in  this  province  [South  Carolina],  that 
he  was  under  necessity  of  taking  refuge  on  board  the  King's  ship  till 
the  packet  boat  sailed"  (Lord  William  Campbell  to  Lord  Dartmouth, 
South  Carolina,  August  19,  1775).  Collet,  after  his  arrival  in  Boston, 
continued  in  military  service  till  the  end  of  the  war.  He  joined  the 
Royal  Fencible  Americans,  a  loyalist  regiment,  served  under  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  Gorham  at  Fort  Cumberland,  Nova  Scotia,  1777-1780, 
and  at  Fort  Howe,  1781  (Loyalist  Muster  Rolls,  MSS.,  1777-1783). 
Of  his  career  after  his  return  to  England  we  know  nothing. 

Collet  had  conspicuous  faults  and  Governor  Martin  made  no  effort 
to  minimize  them.  He  charges  Collet  with  extravagance  and  with 


APPENDICES  333 


conduct  based  upon  his  own  gain  rather  than  "upon  any  principles 
of  justice,  equity,  and  charity."  He  says  that  Collet  was  heavily  in 
debt  and  contemptuous  of  the  efforts  which  his  creditors  made  to 
secure  payment ;  that  he  was  hot-headed  and  impetuous  and  so  scorn- 
ful of  the  colonials  generally  as  to  exasperate  them  against  him. 
Though  Martin  did  not  believe,  and  probably  with  reason,  the  report 
that  Collet  was  harboring  and  arming  negroes  at  the  fort  and  inciting 
them  to  insurrection,  he  was  convinced  that  Collet  was  the  wrong  man 
for  the  place  and  hoped  that  he  would  never  return  to  the  colony. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Absentee  planters  in  the  West  In- 
dies, 92-93. 

Agricultural  methods  in  North  Caro- 
lina, 163-164,  177. 

Alligator  hunt  on  the  Cape  Fear, 
149-151. 

Antigua,  first  sight  of,  73;  descrip- 
tion of,  74-75,  92;  fire  and  hurri- 
cane in,  87,  91 ;  market  in,  108 ; 
water  in,  84,  110;  character  of  the 
people  in,  111-114. 

Aqueduct,  Lisbon,  249-250. 

Atholl,  Duchess  of,  133  note,  243. 

Aveiro,  Duke  of,  223;  palaces  of, 
229-230. 

Azores,  The,  or  Western  Islands,  60- 
64. 

Baird,  Charles,  comptroller  of  the 
port  of  St.  John's,  Antigua,  81,  82, 
83,  86. 

Ball  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina, 

149,  153-154. 
Barracks  at  St.  John's,  Antigua,  old, 

75,  90 ;  new,  83. 
Basseterre,  St.  Christopher,  117,  120; 

landing    at,    121 ;    description    of, 

122. 

Bathing  house  at  St.  John's,  Antigua, 

ill. 

Bathing  on  the  Jamaica  Packet,  69. 
Belem,    royal    palace    near    Lisbon, 

242,  245. 
Beresford,  John  Claudius,  302,  303, 

305. 

Blair,  Captain  James,  80. 
"Bowland,"  plantation,  184,  285,  296, 

299,  300. 


Boyne,  H.  M.  S.,  64,  65. 

Brazil,  Maria  Francesca,  Princess  of, 

251,  252. 
Brunswick,  North  Carolina,  144,  145, 

146,  277-279,  281-282,  283,  315. 
Brydone,  Patrick,  author  of  A  Tour 

through  Sicily  and  Malta,  183. 
Bunker  Hill,  battle  of,  65  note,  210. 
Burntisland,   19,  54. 

C r,  the   supercargo,    19,  29,   40, 

64,  65. 

Campbell,  Samuel,  180,  205,  324-325. 
Cancer,  Tropic  of,  66,  69 ;  ceremony 

on  crossing  the,  70-72. 
Candle-making    in    North    Carolina, 

203-204. 

Cape  Fly-away,  60. 
Cemetery,  English,  in  Lisbon,  243. 
Chambers,   Sir   William,   author   of 

A   Dissertation   on   Oriental   Gar- 
dening, 246. 
Cobham,  Dr.  Thomas,  156,  180,  190, 

191,   192   note,   199,  200,  201,  285, 

321-322. 

Cobham,  Mrs.  Thomas,  201,  322. 
Collet,  Captain  John  Abraham,  142, 

205,  317,  330-333- 
Cooper,  the  (one  of  the  emigrants), 

incident  of,  55,  68. 
Coppers  (half  pence),  179. 
Corbin    bequest,    the,    157,    171-172, 

307,  308. 
Corbin,  Francis,  157  note,  171  note, 

285,  287-289,  308,  313. 
Corbin,    Jean    (Mrs.    Francis),    157, 

170,    171,  286,  287,  288,  307,  308, 

322. 


INDEX 


Creole,  114,  12$. 

Cruizer,  H.  M.  S.,  in  the  Cape  Fear, 

142,  143,  205,  210. 
Cupola  House,  Edenton,  289. 

Dancing,  St.  Christopher,  125. 
Deans,  Captain,  of  the  George,  214, 

216,  217,  218,  220,  221. 
De    Windt,    Jan,    governor    of    St. 

Eustatius,  135  note. 
Digges,  West,  actor,  94,  136. 
Drink  in  the  West  Indies,  78,  81,  98, 

100,  104,  113,  138. 
Drummond,    Colin,    brother    of    the 

Duchess  of  Atholl,  243. 
Dry,  William,  the  collector,  144  note, 

145,  278,  285,  3H-315.  3i6. 
Dunbar,  Mrs.  (the  landlady),  79,  80, 

107. 
Dunbar,  Dr.  John,  79  note,  81,  82, 

83,  90,  91,  103  note,  116. 
Duncan,    Alexander,    288,   295,    296, 

299.  308,  319.  320. 
Dunkeld,  Scotland,  74. 

Eagles,  Joseph,  146-149,  151,  316. 

"Eleanora,"  plantation,  79  note,  90- 
91. 

Emigrants,  Highland,  27-28,  33-38, 
47,  49.  50,  54-55,  67-68,  70,  1 16,  212 ; 
causes  of  their  migration,  257-259. 

Entertainment  in  the  West  Indies, 
80-81,  86,  95-100,  117,  121 ;  on  voy- 
age to  North  Carolina,  133,  139, 
140;  in  Lisbon,  240. 

Factory,  English,  in  Lisbon,  244. 

Fair  Isle  (Sheep  Isle),  33  note,  38- 
42. 

Fashions  in  Antigua,  115. 

Fire,  Mrs.  Heron's  offices,  169-170. 

Flora,  in  the  West  Indies,  101-103, 
126-127;  in  North  Carolina,  194- 
195.  203. 

Fort  Johnston,  141  note,  142,  187 
notes,  205,  279,  324,  329,  331,  332. 

Freeman,  Arthur,  100-101,  265. 

French  inhabitants  of  St.  Christo- 
pher, 131. 

Fruits,  Antigua,  97-99;  North  Caro- 
lina, 174-175. 


Funeral  of  Mrs.  Jean  Corbin,  171- 
172. 

George,  the,  merchant  vessel  in 
which  the  Schaw  party  went  to 
Portugal,  212,  214,  216  note,  218. 

Gloucester,  Duke  of,  anecdote  of,  31. 

Graham,  Captain,  of  the  merchant 
vessel,  the  Spooner,  133. 

Greatheed,  Craister,  122,  275. 

"Green  Castle,"  plantation,  261,  265. 

Greenock,  Scotland,  54,  133,  253,  254. 

H ,  attempts  of,  to  improve  gar- 
dening in  North  Carolina,  164-166, 
185. 

Halliday,  John,  the  collector  at  St. 
John's,  Antigua,  81,  87,  90,  95, 
100,  104,  105,  106,  107,  116. 

Hamilton,  Lady  Isabella,  116,  120, 
121,  122-125,  129,  273-277. 

Hamilton,  William  Leslie,  St.  Chris- 
topher, 121,  123,  124,  125,  273-277. 

Harnett,  Cornelius,  178  note,  284, 
322. 

Harnett,  Mrs.  Cornelius,  178,  179. 

Heron,  Captain  Benjamin,  169  note, 
285. 

Heron,  Mrs.  Benjamin,  169,  285. 

Heron's  Bridge,  195  note,  202,  209 
note. 

Highland   Emigration,   the,  257-259. 

Highlanders  in  North  Carolina,  193 
note,  267,  268,  281. 

"Hilton,"  plantation,  178. 

Hogg,  James,  44  note,  258-259,  323, 
324,  325. 

Hogg,  Robert,  180,  205,  295,  323,  324. 

Hort,  Sir  John,  British  consul-gen- 
eral at  Lisbon,  239,  240,  241. 

Howe,  Robert,  160  note,  167,  178 
note,  187,  188,  189  note,  191,  317- 
3i8,  319- 

Hughes,  Mr.,  overseer  at  "Olivees," 
125,  129. 

Hunting  in  North  Carolina,  176. 

"Hunthill,"  plantation,  184,  185,  189, 
200,  297,  300,  308,  312. 

Indolence  in  North  Carolina,  152, 
153,  155,  159,  163,  164,  174- 


INDEX 


339 


Innes,  Colonel  James,  157  note,  171 

note,  285-287,  300,  313. 
Inquisition    in    Portugal,    221,    224, 

229,  241. 

Jamaica  Packet,  19,  56,  132,  134.  138, 

144  note. 

Jews  in  St.  Eustatius,  130-131. 
Johnston,    Governor    Gabriel,    278, 

283,  285,  286,  291,  293,  294,  307, 

310,  313.  328. 
Joseph    I,   King   of   Portugal,   235, 

240,  245,  251. 

Kames,  Henry  Homes,  Lord,  44,  45. 

Lawsons,   the,  emigrants,  37-38,  55, 

66,  67,  72,  116. 
Lindsay,  Major,  238. 
Lisbon,  218,  222,  226,  227,  230,  232, 

242,  250,  251. 
Lobscourse,  53,  58,  64. 

Mackinnen,  William,  89  note,  93, 
107,  116. 

Mackinnen,  Mrs.  William,  89. 

Macknight,  Thomas,  182,  325-328. 

Maclean,  General  Francis,  238. 

Madeira.  Islands,  The,  58. 

Magnolia,  203. 

Malcolm,  Dr.  Patrick,   103. 

Mansfield,  William,  Lord,  89,  110. 

Manuring,  127,  160. 

Maria,  Senora,  landlady  in  Setubal, 
222-223,  225-226,  245. 

Martin,  Henry,  son  of  Colonel  Sam- 
uel, 264-265. 

Martin,  Josiah,  brother  of  Colonel 
Samuel,  270-272. 

Martin,  Governor  Josiah,  son  of 
Colonel  Samuel,  105,  156,  158,  173, 
182,  186,  187,  188,  189  note,  193, 
197,  205,  206,  207,  208,  212,  216, 
265-270,  271,  281,  296,  315,  317,  321, 
323.  329.  331,  332,  333- 

Martin,  Mrs.  Josiah,  wife  of  the 
governor,  187,  265,  270,  329. 

Martin,  Major  Samuel,  father  of 
Colonel  Samuel,  260-261. 

Martin,  Colonel  Samuel,  "Father  of 
Antigua,"  100,  103-106;  author  of 


Essay  upon  Planterskip,  104  note, 

129  note,  262 ;  colonel  of  militia, 

108,  261 ;   biographical   sketch   of, 

261-262. 
Martin,  Samuel,  Jr.,  son  of  Colonel 

Samuel,  105,  262-264,  268. 
Martin,  Samuel,  M.D.,  son  of  Josiah 

and   nephew   of   Colonel   Samuel, 

272-273. 
Martin,  Young  Samuel,  81,  82,  87, 

95,  106,  107,  265. 
Martin  Family,  the,  259-273. 
Mediterranean  pass,  62. 
Memboe,  colored  maid,  Antigua,  86, 

87,  107. 

Militia,  Antigua,  109. 
Miller,    Mrs.    Mary,    Miss    Schaw's 

abigail,  22,  23,  25,  31,  45,  53,  56, 

57,  86,  107,  134,  145,  180  note,  200, 

210  note,  221. 

Miller,  Philip,  author  of  The  Gar- 
dener's Dictionary,  168,  203. 
Milliken,  Miss,    116,   124,   129,   130, 

132. 
Miscegenation,    white    masters    and 

negro  servants,  112,  154. 
Mocking-bird,  168-169. 
Moita,  Portugal,  234. 
Money,  North  Carolina,  214,  281. 
"Monkey  Hill,"  plantation,    131. 
Monkeys,  St.  Christopher,  131-132. 
Moore,  Colonel  James,  167,  178  note, 

188,  205,  318-319. 

Mosquitoes,  85,  86,  138,  179,  182,  200. 
Moss,  151-152. 
Muir,  Dr.  John,  109. 
Murray,  Mrs.,  of  Stormont,  sister  of 

Lord  Mansfield,  247. 
Murray,    James,    145,    285,    289-291, 

292,  313.  320. 
Murray,  John,  of  Philiphaugh,  296, 

298,  300,  308,  320. 

Negroes,  Antigua,  78,  87,  88,  94,  103- 
104,  107-109,  112;  St.  Christopher, 
127-128;  North  Carolina,  163,  166, 
169,  171,  171-172,  175.  176,  177.  184. 

198,    199,   200,   20 1. 

Neilson,  Archibald,  181,  182,  183, 
186,  188,  189,  190,  197,  200,  206, 
208,  209,  214,  216,  217,  218,  220, 


340 


INDEX 


221,    222,    225,    226,    230,    231,    232, 
235,  236,  241,  253,  324,  328-330. 

Neilson's  groom,  190,  207-209. 

New  Bern,  156,  172,  180,  183,  186, 
281. 

North  Carolina,  first  view  of,  141 ; 
trees  in,  152-153;  people  of,  153, 
I54mi55'»  agriculture  in,  163-164; 
negroes  in,  166,  169,  171,  171-172, 
175.  176,  177.  184,  198,  199.  200, 
201;  lightning  in,  174;  fruits  in, 
174'175J  birds  in,  175;  crops  in, 
194;  description  of,  by  Alexander 
Schaw,  279-282. 

"Olivees,"   plantation,    121,    122-123, 

273-274. 
Ossian,  cited,  74,  119. 

Paisley,  Mr.,  237,  239,  241,  244,  245, 

253- 

Paisley,  Mrs.,  214,  230,  237,  239,  244. 
Palmella,  Portugal,  234. 
Palmetto  trees,  Antigua,  83-84. 
Parker,   George,   owner   of   the   Ja- 
maica Packet,  19  note,  22,  26,  28, 

295. 

Payne,  Lady,  88,  109,  115. 
Payne,  Sir  Ralph,  governor  of  the 

Leeward  Islands,  75  note,  88,  109, 

115. 

Pitcairn,  Major  John,  65  note,  210. 
"Point    Pleasant,"    plantation,     168, 

171   note,   179,   181,  188,  195  note, 

202,  209,  308. 
Pombal,   Sebastian   Joseph    de   Car- 

valho  e  Mello,  Marquess  of,  235, 

251. 

Priests,  in  Portugal,  228-229. 
Pringle,    Charlotte,    sister    of    Mrs. 

Paisley,  239,  244. 
Proclamations,   royal,    199,   206;   by 

Governor  Martin,  207,  208. 

Quince,  Parker,  son  of  Richard,  209, 

314. 

Quince,  Richard,  144,  145,  278,  314. 
Quit- rents,  173,  214. 

Rafts,  on  the  Cape  Fear,  185. 


Rebecca,  the,  133,  144  note. 

Review,  the  military,  at  Wilmington, 
181,  187,  189-190. 

Robert,  Alexander  Schaw's  East  In- 
dian servant,  25,  53,  86,  117,  118, 

138,  143- 

"Rockhall,"  country-seat  on  Long  Is- 
land, 187  note,  266,  267,  268,  269, 
270,  271,  272. 

"Rose  Hill,"  plantation,  209  note. 

Rutherfurd,  Fanny,  daughter  of 
John  Rutherfurd,  Sr.,  20,  22,  51, 
59.  69,  76,  81,  92,  105,  106,  117,  118, 
151,  157,  167,  170,  180,  182,  183 
note,  186,  188,  191,  194,  197,  200, 

201,    202,    204,    2O6,    209,    213,    214, 

217,  226,  227,  233,  239,  244,  245, 

253,    299,    303,    304-307,    309,    310, 

330. 

Rutherfurd,  Frances,  wife  of  John 
Rutherfurd,  Sr.,  293,  294,  310,  311. 

Rutherfurd,  John,  Sr.,  20,  26,  103, 
145,  157,  172,  173,  174,  176,  184, 
185,  186,  188,  189,  197,  206,  212, 
217,  285,  286,  290,  291-299,  308, 
310,  311,  313,  318,  319,  320,  322. 

Rutherfurd,  John,  Jr.,  eldest  son  of 
John  Rutherfurd,  Sr.,  20,  52,  107, 

139.  157.  180,  296,  299,  300-301,  302, 

309,  320  note. 

Rutherfurd,  Walter,  of  the  New 
York  line,  184  note. 

Rutherfurd,  William  Gordon,  young- 
est son  of  John  Rutherfurd,  Sr., 
20,  48,  107,  157,  299,  301-304,  309, 

310,  311,  320  note. 

St.  Christopher  (St.  Kitts),  92,  120; 

description  of,  126-127;  negroes  in, 

127-128. 

St.  Eustatius,  135-138. 
St.  John's,  Antigua,  75,  78,  88;  fire 

in,  87 ;  St.  John's  Church  in,  93- 

95- 

St.  John's  Church,  Antigua,  93-95. 
St.     Philip's      Church,     Brunswick, 
North  Carolina,  144  note,  278,  314, 

315. 

St.  Roque,  Church  of,  Lisbon,  244, 
245. 


INDEX 


341 


Salmon,  Thomas,  author  of  A  New 
G  eographical  and  Historical  Gram- 
mar, 60-61. 

Sangerie,  a  tropical  drink,  78. 

Schaw,  Alexander,  brother  of  Janet 
Schaw,  the  author  of  the  Journal, 

20,  21,  22,  25,  44,  48,  59,  69,  72,  76, 

92,  103,  Il8,   122,   144,  l8l,  l88,   193, 

196,  197,  248,  266,  305,  306-307, 

309,  313.  320  note. 

Schaw,  Gideon  (Gidjun),  father  of 
Alexander,  Janet,  and  Robert,  106. 

Schaw,  Janet,  "Jen.",  or  Jennie,  the 
author  of  the  Journal,  see  Intro- 
duction and  passim. 

Schaw,  Robert,  son  of  Gideon  and 
brother  of  Alexander  and  Janet, 

21,  145,  148,  156,  159-160,  172,  188, 
197   note,  204,  212,  213,  217,  295, 
316,  319-320,  324- 

Schaw,  Mrs.  Robert,  157,  160,  167, 
188,  204,  213. 

"Schawfield"  or  "Sauchie,"  planta- 
tion, 148,  158,  186,  188  note,  194. 

Scott,  Major,  238. 

Seater,  Captain  Hugh,  of  the  Re- 
becca, 134,  135,  138,  139,  140,  141, 
142,  144. 

Setubal  (St.  Tubes),  218,  219-220, 
226,  227,  232. 

Sierra  da  Arabida,  crossing  the,  230- 
235- 

Smith,  the  (one  of  the  emigrants), 
55-56,  116. 

Smith,  Captain  Thomas,  of  the  Ja- 
maica Packet,  24,  28,  40-41,  51,  60, 
71,  72,  76,  134,  144,  145. 

Snow's  plantation,  141. 

Sound,  the,  186,  196,  213. 

Steerage,  27,  47,  69. 

Storm  at  sea,  the  first,  42-54;  the 
second,  64-65. 


Sugar-making   in    the    West   Indies, 
128-129. 

Tagus  River,  crossing  the,  236. 
Tailor,  the   (one  of  the  emigrants), 

55,  56,  116. 
Test   or  Association,   the,    156,    192, 

326. 

Theatre,  Lisbon,  252. 
Thomas,   Governor   George,   of   the 

Leeward  Islands,  100,  265. 
Tollemache,  Captain,  of  H.  M.  S. 

Scorpion,  196. 
Townshend,  George,  Marquess,  253, 

300. 
Trees  in  North  Carolina,   152,    159, 

174. 

Trumble,  Jock,  83. 
Turkey  buzzard,  176. 
Turtle,  59 ;  as  food,  95,  186. 
Twiss,   Richard,  author  of   Travels 

through  Portugal  and  Spain,  250. 

"Unlawful    Convocation,"    at    New 
Bern,  173,  181. 

Vegetables  in  North  Carolina,  174. 
Virgin  Mary,  Portugal,  227. 

Walpole,  Robert,  British  minister  to 

Portugal,  240. 
Washing,  linen,  204. 
Webster,  Dr.  Alexander,  Edinburgh, 

94. 
Wilmington,   155-156,    177,    187,   189, 

278,  279,  280,  282-285;  physicians 

in,  156-157- 

Zebras,  Lisbon,  248. 
Zoological  garden  at  Belem,  descrip- 
tion of,  246-249. 


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